Interview with Brendan Bechtel, Chairman and CEO of Bechtel Corporation: We are keen to play a major role at King Salman Airport. We have implemented 300 projects in the Kingdom in 81 years

by FAHAD ALTALAL

Bechtel has existed for more than 80 years, during which it has implemented more than 300 projects in Saudi Arabia, and plans to stay another 80 years, Bechtel is an American family business and its management has been managed by 5 generations of the family since its establishment in 1898, and the newspaper Maaal) had an interview with Brandon Bechtel, the grandson, who represents the fifth generation in the company’s management and serves as Chairman and CEO of Bechtel International, and Abdulrahman Al-Ghabban,  President of Saudi Arabian Bechtel  Company.

 Brendan Bechtel speaks proudly about the Saudi company’s projects as if he were talking about stars shining in the sky of desert nights to tell stories of success and long history in the region.

“Bechtel has a history of more than eight decades in the Kingdom and we hope to stay here for another eighty years, our first project was with the Ras Tanura 1 refinery in 1943, and since then we have completed more than 300 projects in Saudi Arabia. Our current focus is to deliver projects that align with the goals of Vision 2030 in places like NEOM,Trojena, and  New Murabba , and we help create a sustainable, vibrant and economically prosperous environment, and the Riyadh Metro project will be one of the leading modes of transportation for locals and visitors in the Kingdom. Bechtel is implementing two lines of the Riyadh Metro.

On the company’s new projects in the Kingdom, Brandon said: “King Salman Airport is a major  prospects for us in Saudi Arabia and we hope to play a key role. We have been working in the airport business for many decades, and we have established King Khalid Airport, King Fahd Airport, and part of King Abdulaziz Airport, so our legacy in Saudi Arabia is the airport business, and we can go further. We have 40 years of experience in  building airports and are really keen to play a role at King Salman International Airport, which will be one of the largest mega projects in the Kingdom. We love doing business in the Kingdom and we love doing mega projects.

Brendan added: “We love working in the Kingdom and are always looking forward to expanding our partnership further. Bechtel has a proven track record of success in the region and fully aligns with the goals of Vision 2030. We provide infrastructure that will create a vibrant and thriving community that at the same time diversifies the Kingdom’s economy. There are so many opportunities in the Kingdom, and we look forward to supporting our customers and making their vision a reality.

On the strategies the company uses to provide customized and sustainable solutions aimed at reducing carbon emissions globally and locally: Brendan said: “Like many companies, we have a goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.  We aim to do that. A key part of the way we plan to achieve this goal is through the use of innovation and technology to improve the way we work, especially in terms of carbon, and we do it because we think it makes business sense because it’s the right thing to do. We’re also really focused on helping our customers achieve their low net carbon ambitions, and we’re exploring alternative fuels. We have a very strong set of studies that we do on ammonia and hydrogen. We have a large renewable energy business that is growing very quickly, we are also active in the mining business, and we have a significant involvement in metals that enable some kind of energy transition, such as lithium, rare earth metals, copper, and aluminum.

We challenge ourselves to decarbonize every project while achieving efficiency in terms of reducing cost to achieve greater value.

Bechtel uses new technologies in its business to promote sustainability. In the next few months, we will also open an innovation hub at our regional headquarters here in Riyadh. The Innovation  hub will support our infrastructure projects and our customers, demonstrating how we apply digital tools and data.

On supporting the company’s  Saudization plans and giving Saudi youth more opportunities, Brendan said: “I am very proud of Abdulrahman as a leading example of what we are trying to do. He started with us in Saudi Arabia and he moved to the United States for several more years to help us pursue and win the business around the world, helping us to win work  across the United States. Because of the opportunities here in the Kingdom, we asked him to return to his homeland to be our first Saudi leader to represent Bechtel in all our actions here in the Kingdom. So, I think it embodies what we’re trying to do.

“Today we have nearly 20,000 employees around the world, and there are 4,000 of those employees here in the Kingdom. This is the second largest number of employees in the world for Bechtel, second only to the United States, and of the 4,000 people we have in the Kingdom, there are about 1,000 Saudi nationals, who work with us at Bechtel and about half of them are women. We are truly proud of both.

Al-Ghabban: We launched the Return Program, which is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, designed to empower citizens who have been out of the workforce for a year or more through a targeted 10-week program while providing training and tools.

Abdulrahman Al Ghabban, President  of Bechtel Saudi Arabia, said: “We are passionate about supporting the communities in which we live and work. We maintain a strong focus on Saudization – recruiting, training, and developing our local  talents. We have partnered with organizations to promote training and employment opportunities  in the STEM  sector  Some organizations include Prince Sultan University, the University of Tabuk, and the Saudi Women Engineers  Society . There are also more partnerships to come.

“Last year, we launched the Return Programme, designed to empower nationals who have been out of the workforce for a year or more. The return program was the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia; it is a 10-week targeted return to the workforce with training and tools, and the top six candidates received their certificates earlier this year.

“We continue to grow in the Kingdom, we are particularly excited about  our future in Saudi, and I am very proud of my Saudi colleagues and how they work hard to become professionals and work in multinational companies, present actual projects and achieve results in the Kingdom, and this makes me proud to be an employee of Bechtel and also as a Saudi citizen. We do it because we believe in giving equal opportunities to our Saudi colleagues to grow and become a professional in a multicultural, multinational, and multicultural company operating in Saudi Arabia.