Construction & Real Estate

Qatari Diar, Delancey buy London Olympic Village site for $907m

U.K. developer Delancey Estates Plc. and a unit of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund agreed to pay £557 million ($906 million) for the athlete’s village in London’s Olympic Park. The deal includes the purchase by closely held Delancey and Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Co. of 1,439 homes from the Olympic Delivery Authority that can be resold or rented out, the ODA said in a statement. The ODA is responsible for developing the venues and infrastructure for the 2012 Games and their use after the event. London Olympic officials are focusing on finding ways to convert and sell facilities built for the 2012 Games after previous host cities such as Athens were left with unused or underutilized properties. The east London soccer team West Ham United soccer in March won the right to take over the Olympic stadium after the event. The Olympic Village, which cost 1.1 billion pounds to build, will house 17,000 athletes and officials across 67 acres (27 hectares) during the Games, the government said in May 2009. Delancey and Qatari Diar can build an additional 2,000 residential units on the site in London’s East End district. Source: Bloomberg News

Goodbye Dubai - Saudi Arabia to build the world's tallest tower

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal launched in early August a project to build the world's tallest tower at more than 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. The project to built a tower topping Dubai's world's highest building, Burj Khalifa, ""will soon see the light after the signing of a $1.2 billion agreement"" between Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding Co and construction giant Bin Laden Group, the Saudi tycoon told reporters. It will take 36 months to build the tower, said the Saudi businessman, a nephew of King Abdullah and one of the kingdom's wealthiest men. He did not say when construction will begin. Source: Global Arab Network

Delay seen for $2.65bn Bahrain market revamp

Work on a BD1 billion ($2.65 billion) renovation project at Manama Central Market in Bahrain is set to be delayed by up to 18 months, officials said. Councilors have put on hold plans to redevelop the area until a comprehensive study on how to modernize one of Bahrain’s most important areas is completed. It is not expected to be ready until early 2014. An initial agreement has already been reached between Manama Municipality and Municipal and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry to appoint a consultancy firm to oversee the redevelopment of the market. The contract, due to be signed this month, had been postponed to allow municipal officials to come up with a detailed agreement and other paperwork. Tashgeel for Commercial Buildings Management has been awarded the contract to carry out the study it has been working on unofficially for the last few months. It will be responsible for determining the best way to handle investment, market the project, come up with criteria for investors, help select the best bidders and supervise designs. Initial designs for the project, dubbed as a “City within a city”, include a new BD120 million central market, which could be named Capital Trade Centre. Source: TradeArabia News

Saudi Arabia awards SR84.2bn construction contracts in H1

The value of awarded construction contracts in Saudi Arabia reached SR84.2 billion by the end of the first half of the year. SR34.5 billion contracts were awarded in the second quarter, according to the National Commercial Bank Construction Contracts Index Second Quarter 2011. The largest bank in Saudi Arabia has added that the total value of construction contracts in the current year is likely to surpass that in 2010. Source: Arab News

STFA wins $305m road project in Oman

Sezai Turkes-Feyzi Akkaya (STFA), a leading Turkish construction company, has won a major road construction contract worth RO117.5 million ($305 million) in Oman. The 75 kilometer-project, a part of the development program for the 200 kilometer-road linking Bid Bid and Sur, aims to convert the existing two-lane carriageway into four lanes, said a report in Times of Oman. The first package between Bid Bid and Ibra covers 120 kilometers of the total 200 kilometers, while design is ready for the remaining 80 kilometers between Ibra and Sur, the report said. The Tender Board is likely to call for bids from contracting firms for the remaining 80 kilometers. Source: TradeArabia News