The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), the developer behind one of the world’s most ambitious tourism projects, has told MECN that it has awarded contracts with a total value of almost SAR 1 billion ($266.6 million) in the past week.

The organisation described the multiple awards as indicative of major progress on its Red Sea Project.

This brings the total number of awarded contracts on the giga-project to 67, spanning design, construction and corporate projects, said TRSDC.

Among the contracts awarded in the past seven days are a marine infrastructure package, a Construction Village to house the project’s labor force, and a management hotel at the 28,000sqkm destination site. After an intensive week of awards there are still 500 contracts in the pipeline.

This month also saw the start of full-scale development at the site. Archirodon, a global leader in marine infrastructure projects, will construct an initial crossing to the main hub island for Phase One of the Red Sea Project. Also included in that package are four coastal jetties for the islands earmarked for development. The work is scheduled for completion by June 2020.

The contracts signed will be key to the essential enabling works that will support construction of the first phase of the development. This will include 14 luxury hotels with over 3,000 rooms, built over five islands and two inland locations. It will also include a marina, entertainment facilities, an airport, and the necessary supporting logistics and utilities infrastructure. Earlier this year, TRSDC announced that boots were on the ground at the site and its Base Camp was fully operational.