Saudi govt lifts project bidding ban on Binladin Group

DUBAI/RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has allowed major builder Saudi Binladin Group to resume bidding for state projects, a senior Binladin executive said on Thursday, in a decision that may ease financial pressure on the troubled firm and banks which lend to the group.

The company, one of the Middle East´s largest builders, has struggled since last September, when it was suspended from obtaining new government contracts after a crane toppled into Mecca´s Grand Mosque during a storm, killing 107 people.

It has now received a royal decree allowing it to bid for state contracts again, and a travel ban imposed on its top managers after the disaster has been lifted, the executive told Reuters, declining to be named under briefing rules.

He was confirming a report in the al-Watan newspaper, which in addition quoted a spokesman for the civil aviation authority as saying that Binladin would resume work at the multi-billion dollar King Abdulaziz International Airport project in Jeddah.