Gulf Construction Online - Powering ahead

Saudi Arabia

QDC has supplied its full-frame precast components to various projects in the kingdom.

Powering ahead

01 May 2015

ANBAR DYWIDAG PRECAST CONCRETE COMPANY

Veteran precast concrete specialist Qanbar Dywidag Precast Concrete Company (QDC) of Saudi Arabia has built a reputation for its reliability and quality, which has ensured that it continues to be a leading supplier for the array of housing, industrial and infrastructural projects under way in the kingdom.

The company has recorded a significant increase in the volume of work over the past year and sees bright prospects ahead in terms of business, given the huge demand for its products that are helping speed up housing projects in the Eastern, Central, Western and Northern provinces.

QDC designs, manufactures, delivers and installs architectural and structural precast, prestressed concrete products for commercial, residential, industrial and government projects throughout Saudi Arabia.

QDC has, for more than 33 years, been providing quality precast concrete products at a competitive price, backed by outstanding service to customers in the kingdom. Among its clients are some of the most reputed names in Saudi Arabia including Saudi Aramco, the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), Ma’aden and various military and civil government authorities as well as the private sector.

For the Royal Commission, for example, it is currently involved on two housing projects in Jubail. This entails the supply of total precast frames and cladding for family apartments (C16), and full-frame precast components for housing units (C-71) on the project where Azmeel Contracting is the contractor.

“In fact, the Royal Commission has even approached QDC to handle delayed projects it had awarded to other precast companies to meet its target schedule as rush projects,” Mohammed Abdullah, QDC sales manager points out.

QDC is also involved in a unique development in Thuwal for Saudi Aramco under a contract valued at SR300 million ($80 million).

“The project is the National Guard family compound, which consists of 500 villas being carried out by Azmeel Contracting Company,” says Abdullah.

A QDC project ... quality products.

He continues: “Housing is just one segment of the huge market QDC caters to. The company has also supplied precast components to a number of contractors working on Sadara Chemical Company’s integrated chemical facilities in Jubail, which calls for providing pipe racks, precast cladding, and full-frame precast.”

Other commercial and industrial projects it is supplying to include precast cladding for Madinah Hotel, which has International Building Systems as the contractor, a Saudi Aramco project in Rabigh (with contractor Saudi Arabian Baytur Construction Company); Saudia facilities in Jeddah (Specialised Contracting Company); blast-resistant substations at Jizan Refinery (Daewoo Company); a boundary wall for Marafiq in Yanbu (Azmeel Contracting Company); and hollow-core slabs for a car-park at Jeddah Islamic Port (Project Build Company). It is also supplying precast components for the construction of Ali Reza Centre in Jeddah (Jawdat Company); Makkah Al Mukarama Complex – Phase Three in the Muzdalifa area, having completed phases one and two of the project in record time (Al Fawzan Trading and Contracting Company).

In addition, QDC is also involved in the infrastructure and utilities sector providing to projects such as the Haramain High Speed Railway in the Western Area (Inabensa Company); and a water transmission project for Saline Water Conversion Corporation in the Western Province (Sinopec).

The company now expects to get a good share of work in the Waad Al Shammal Industrial City Development and Saudi Aramco housing projects in Dhahran and Jubail areas.

QDC was established in 1981 as a partnership between Al Ansari Holding Company (Abdul Razzaq Mohammed Qanbar Al Ansari and Sons), a leading business conglomerate in the Eastern Province; and Dycherhoff and Widmann (Dywidag), one of the largest German general contractors and precast concrete manufacturers.

In January 2002, Al Ansari Holding became the sole owner of QDC with Dywidag remaining as a technical partner.

Its products are manufactured in the modern factories, located in Jubail and Rabigh, which have a combined production capacity of more than 5 million sq m per year (2 million sq m in Jubail factories and 3 million sq m in Rabigh factory).

These facilities are regularly upgraded and expanded to ensure they are able to meet the growing demand as well as add value to the company’s products.

QDC has already installed a highly automated state-of-the-art concrete batching plant at its main factory in Jubail, and four additional hollowcore lines at its Rabigh factory. It is also set to launch the construction of a new administration building, mess hall and mosque, at the Rabigh factory.

To cater to the increased demand in the market, the company recently opened a new sales office in Jeddah and will be expanding its sales staff in Jeddah, as well as in Riyadh and Jubail.

QDC is also a joint venture partner in Qatar International Precast (QIP) in Doha, Qatar, producing a full line of precast and pre-stressed concrete products for the country’s rapidly expanding building construction and infrastructure market in anticipation of the 2022 Fifa World Cup.