Gulf Construction Online

Regional News

Update

01 July 2013

Piling works at tower on target

THE piling work at the world’s tallest tower, the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – being executed by Saudi Bauer Company – is on target, said the Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) at a board briefing headed by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC).

The board also reviewed agreements relating to infrastructure and services for the project including electricity, water and district cooling.

Meanwhile, a final agreement has been reached with the Four Seasons relating to operating the luxury designed hotel in the tower.

Prince Alwaleed said work on the $1.2-billion tower, which will be more than a kilometre high when complete, is progressing as planned.

Dispute Boards targets region

DISPUTE Boards Mena has recently been set up to provide the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region with a better understanding of the benefits and added value that dispute boards could bring to construction projects.

“The Fidic forms of contract are the most widely used contracts for construction works in the Middle East and North Africa. These contracts have included provisions for the appointment of dispute boards since 1999, but the region has been very slow to adopt their use,” said a spokesman for the board.

Quoting the EC Harris’ Global Construction Disputes Report 2012, Dispute Boards Mena said there was an upsurge in major disputes in the region last year.

While many countries outside the region adopt dispute boards as a means of avoiding and resolving disputes, the Mena lags behind in their use.

“We believe this to be largely due to a lack of understanding of the significant benefits and the added value that dispute boards can bring to construction projects. There is no reason why the region should not take advantage of reduced project costs, reduced completion times, continuing goodwill and the avoidance of disputes that are now common elsewhere,” the spokesman said.

Hill International wins towers project

HILL International, the global leader in managing construction risk, has secured a contract from the Land Investment and Real Estate Development Company to provide project management services for tower developments at The Pearl-Qatar, a mixed-use artificial island in Qatar.

The 20-month contract is worth approximately QR15.2 million ($4.2 million) to Hill and includes four residential towers located on the artificial island, which spans nearly 4 million sq m and features both residential and commercial properties. Three of the towers are located in the Viva Bahriya district and one tower is located in the Porto Arabia District.