Hidada, the Jeddah-based fabrication specialist, has announced it has started work on the $3.4 billion Rabigh power plant Phase 6 project that will yield a total of 2,800 MW of electricity.

The company won an order worth SR466.6 million ($124.4 million) in the project whose main contractor is Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction. Completion time for the entire project was given as 50 months from September 2010.

Hidada’s scope is work related to the civil, electrical instrumentation and mechanical packages, the latter entailing pipes and tanks, the company’s construction sales engineer Sultan Mohammed Al Juhani said.

It will complete its part of the project in January 2013, Al Juhani added.

The Saudi firm is expected to complete this year two other contracts – the Wasea bulk plant project and the Manifa co-generation and main substations project.

For the Wasea contract, Hidada will design, fabricate, supply and erect 15 storage tanks and earn SR62 million. The main contractor in the project is Sinopec.

In the Manifa project, Hidada will design, fabricate, supply and erect two storage tanks at a cost of SR4.3 million. The main contractor in the project is Technicas.

Hidada has succeeded in winning contracts worldwide including the US, Mexico, Chile, Puerto Rico, Denmark, Spain, Africa and Asia. 
 
On the design front, the company has invested in new technologies and software such as Xsteel, Tank and etank.

Expansion

A galvanising plant of the company

Its workshop has in recent years seen a dramatic expansion with the installation of heavy duty rolling machines, CNC-controlled gantry-type plasma cutting units, automatic plate blasting and painting units.

The company has invested heavily in welding automation for the storage tanks fabrication and erection.

Turnkey projects for storage tanks contribute most revenues to the company and make up Hidada’s core business strength.  Next in importance are turnkey projects related to plant erection and piping schemes.

The company entered into a joint venture with PEC Singapore with a view to securing new business related to engineering, procurement and construction services for bulk tank farm and oil and chemical terminals.

Since 1982 the company has increased its annual production capacity from 2,000 to over 200,000 tonnes of diversified and specialised steel products catering to various sectors such as the power, oil and gas, petrochemicals, defence and aviation, seaports, high-rise buildings, cement plants, metal smelters, water desalination plants and other industries.

It operates seven plants, a warehouse facility with a total land area of about 212,000 sq m, a blasting and painting facility and a galvanising facility.