Construction & Real Estate

Hospitals planned in Qatar to treat expat labourers

Qatar health chiefs have revealed plans to build hospitals and health centres to exclusively treat the needs of expat labourers in the Gulf state. The Supreme Council of Health wants to establish three hospitals and five primary health centres in a bid to ease the pressure on existing healthcare facilities. The hospitals will be located in Doha city, Industrial Area and Al Shamal with the health centres to be set up near the hospitals, said Dr Faleh Mohammed Al Ali, assistant minister for Policy Affairs and director of the Medical Licensing Department.

Capital Gate reaches 100m height

Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) has announced that it has achieved one of the most significant milestones in the construction of the iconic Capital Gate, adjacent to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. A gigantic internal Atrium, including swimming pool and 'tea lounge' has been suspended on the 17th and 18th floors, the halfway point of the 35 storey, 160 metre high tower. The tower now stands approximately 100m high with the central core at level 22 and the external diagrid at level 18.

Egypt needs more infrastructure projects, says Mohieldin

Egypt needs to up spending on infrastructure projects, Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin said at a housing finance conference in Cairo. While the construction industry has grown at twice the pace of the economy in recent years, and recent declines in steel and cement prices have spurred continued growth, Mohieldin noted that construction is still well behind in some ways. Because of Egypt's relatively youthful population, broad based demand (especially for housing) would remain high, but a strong credit market attached to the housing industry had yet to appear.

Drake & Scull International awarded AED 400 million Abu Dhabi contract

Gulf Technical Construction Company (GTCC), the civil contracting subsidiary of Drake & Scull International PJSC (DSI), has been awarded its first project in Abu Dhabi- an AED 400 million contract, including an AED 100 million Mechanical Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) contract that will be executed by DSI for the Mangrove Place project on Al Reem Island. Saleh Muradweij, Executive Director of GTCC, said “winning a AED 400 million mega-project on one of the most luxurious developments in Abu Dhabi is certainly an excellent start for GTCC operations in the capital. It is, yet again, an affirmation of DSI’s technical capabilities, financial strength, and market leadership.” Work on the project has commenced and is expected to be completed by end of 2010.

Construction of Bahrains Marina West development on track

Marina West, Bahrain's first gated beachfront high-rise residential and lifestyle community, located in tranquil and idyllic surroundings on the Kingdom's west coast, has announced that project is on track. The ongoing market melt down has had a limited effect on the progress of the project. As the market conditions are improving and showing signs of recovery, further impetus to the progress of the Project is definitely on the anvil.

SR40.6 billion spent on projects in first quarter: Al-Assaf

Saudi Arabia said it had more than doubled its capital spending on development projects in the first quarter, awarding contracts worth SR40.6 billion to spur the nonoil sector. The Kingdom said late last year it would invest $400 billion in the coming five years mainly to build infrastructure. "The value of projects approved by the Ministry of Finance in the first quarter was SR40.6 billion compared with around SR20 billion in the first quarter of 2008," Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf said.

Fall in construction costs driving progress in economic cities

Although the economic downturn has lead to the shelving of a number of major projects elsewhere in the world, it has led to a significant opportunity for Saudi Arabia’s Economic Cities to develop at an increasing rate. Amr Al Dabbagh Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) said in an interview that, "the global economic slowdown has presented a great deal of opportunities including depressed prices of building materials and surplus capacities in construction companies, equipment and human capital. All these challenges were there six months ago but now we are talking about a cost advantage for construction between 30 and 40 percent.

Drydocks World-Dubai expands yard space with new FPSO Quay

Drydocks World - Dubai, the ship repair, conversion and building subsidiary of Drydocks World, has added two new berths to its facility, significantly increasing its conversion capacity. Completed recently, Berths 9 and 10 are now fully operational and have recently accommodated the 380-metre long TI Asia, Abuzar and Spring Bow for conversion works. The announcement comes ahead of rydocks World's participation at Nor-Shipping 09, in Oslo, June 9th-12th, where the company's yard capabilities in the Middle East and Southeast Asia will be highlighted.

Qatar Entertainment City work progresses

Abu Dhabi Investment House, developer of Qatar Entertainment City, said it had completed 70 per cent of infrastructure work at the project. The project is divided into five districts which will be linked with canals and will have features like a snow dome, a beach, a rainforest, a Six Flags branded theme park which will open in 2010, restaurants, hotels, and shopping malls. The US$3 billion project in Lusail which includes a kilometre of prime beachfront and sea-view apartments and luxury villas aims to create a major tourist hub within the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Bahraini, China talk on prospects of joint cooperation in construction sector

His Excellency the Minster of State for Foreign Affairs and Chairman of Tamkeen, Dr. Nezar bin Sadeq Al Baharna met at his office with a Chinese delegation of businessmen discussed several areas of joint collaboration mainly in the construction sector. The officials discussed ways of mutual cooperation in the development of programmes that can reduce the dependency of construction companies on unskilled labour by introducing machinery and technological solutions, to develop energy efficient material for the construction of smart buildings which can further enhance this sector. Also to enhance efficiency for Bahraini construction companies on several levels.

Egypt's OCI Q1 net drops 46 pct, meets forecasts

Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries posted a 46 percent drop in first quarter net income to $105.7 million but said the decline was due to foreign exchange and interest income gains a year earlier. The result for OCI, Egypt's largest listed builder, was in line with analyst forecasts. Three analysts had estimated net income for the period of between $83 million and $140 million.

Bahrain: Constructive Optimism

Similar to its regional counterparts, Bahrain has witnessed a rapid increase in construction activity over the past few years. High oil prices, a burgeoning financial sector and substantial population growth have led to a consistently rising demand for newly developed commercial and high-end residential real estate in particular. Regulators have encouraged growth by making mortgage financing available as well as foreign land ownership. Additionally, the Kingdom has been spending many of its petrodollars on infrastructure development, thus making construction a key contributor to GDP growth. In fact, since 2004, growth of the sector has been steadily outpacing that of GDP, reaching a four-year compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 25.7% in 2007.

Futtaim/OCI JV to construct USD 340 million retail center

Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) announced that an Al-Futtaim Carillion/OCI joint venture has received a letter of intent valued at USD 340 million (EGP 1.91 billion) for construction of the new retail center at Cairo Festival City. OCI was awarded the project on a turnkey basis. The retail center will comprise of 400 shopping units. These units will include room for retail giants such as Ikea, ACE Hardware and Marks & Spencer and a hypermarket and cinema complex. In addition, the retail center will also include a retail village which will include a water amusement park, pedestrian walkways, cafes, restaurants as well as other retail shops. The total built-up area of the project will be 425,000 m2.