01 May 2014

THE real estate sector constitutes the largest volume of the $2.5 trillion worth of projects currently under way in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, according to a report published by Citi Research.

Of the total of volume of projects, those that are currently under development are worth $1.4 trillion, while projects valued at $600 billion are in the pipeline at a relatively advanced stage, and the remainder are in the very early stages of development, Citi Research’s Mena Project Tracker said.

The GCC accounts for almost 90 per cent of total projects by value (about $2.2 trillion), with Saudi Arabia ($784 billion) and the UAE ($669 billion) together accounting for almost 60 per cent of the total, it said.

Egypt is the only non-GCC country with projects under way in excess of $100 billion. Projects in Qatar are valued at a total of $273 billion, Kuwait $249 billion, Egypt $143 billion and Oman $127 million.

The greatest concentration of projects is in the real estate sector, with more than $1 trillion under way. Within this sector, community development and economic and industrial zones account for the bulk of the spend.

“Given the long-term nature of these projects, we believe that the large project values tend to exaggerate the actual spend in any given year. There are also significant concentrations in the infrastructure, oil and gas, and power and water sectors, where the relatively short execution time frame suggests a relatively higher annual spend,” Citi Research said.

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