Gulf Construction Online - Airport expansion makes headway

Airport Construction

An artist's impression of Concourse 3.

Airport expansion makes headway

Significant progress is being made on various aspects of the $4.1 billion Dubai International Airport expansion project as it gears up to handle around 60 million passengers by the end of this decade.

01 July 2004

EXPANSION at the Dubai International Airport carries on apace with an international flower centre and a new car park scheduled to open later this year.

The projects are part of the $4.1 billion expansion plan by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority. It includes the construction of a third terminal, two new concourses – to be used exclusively by Emirates – a $137 million upgrade to the existing Terminal 2 and the construction of cargo mega terminals (CMTs). The expansion will increase the airport’s passenger handling capacity to nearly 60 million by 2006 from the current 22 million.
The DCA is currently negotiating with a consortium of banks to obtain around Dh10 billion financing for the remaining projects under expansion programme.
Al Naboodah-Laing is currently working on the Concourse 2 and Terminal 3 under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, the largest under the expansion project. Work on the Terminal 3 and Concourse 2 is expected to be completed by 2007.
More than 10 million cu m of earth has already been excavated for the underground Terminal 3. Contractors have already put 665,000 cu m of concrete out of a 2.5 million cu m so far.
Al Naboodah Contracting currently has a team of 70 employees on site working in shifts to lay the asphalt over what will be the airport extension’s taxiway and apron.
Concourse 3 is expected to be completed by 2008 and the CMTs will be built in phases and completed by 2018. Some of the earthworks for the CMTs are being carried out, while materials handling system for these are being designed in Germany.
The expansion programme has been divided into five major elements. The first element is the expansion of passenger facilities, including Terminal 3, Concourse 2 and Concourse 3. The second element incorporates the expansion of cargo facilities, including the CMTs, and the third element is the expansion of airfield facilities, such as new aprons, taxiways, roads, tunnels, runway extension and so on.

Dubai Flower Centre
The $50-million first phase of the Dubai Flower Centre (DFC), slated for completion this September, will operate as a free zone and will have a major impact on the retail industry in the Middle East and international markets.
With its high-tech facilities and round-the-clock operation, the centre is ideally placed to act as an international distribution centre for cut flowers and other perishables, given its strategic location within easy reach of flower growers and markets in Europe, Africa, the Far East and the Middle East.
Work on the project is being implemented by Al Habtoor-Murray and Roberts (HMR) and the consultant is WS Atkins.
The project will offer an enhanced level of automation over a five- to seven-year period for processing flower products. The main structure of the DFC is being built as a single project but the interior fit-out will take place over three phases. The three-level building covers a footprint of 32,000 sq m and each phase of the facility is designed to handle around 150,000 tonnes of flowers and other perishables annually.
The centre, when completed fully operational at a total cost of $300 million, will have a floor area of approximately 100,000 sq m, including export chambers and offices (aside from product break down and build-up stations, and automated sorting areas). The handling capacity of the centre is expected to be more than 300,000 tonnes of product throughput per annum.
The main handling operations for import, export and transit will take place on the ground floor, where there will be segregated cool storage areas set at specific temperature/humidity ranges, customs and inspection areas and fumigation rooms. The second and third floors of the facility will operate as a free zone where international wholesalers, importers and exporters can establish offices and warehouses for value-added services such as sorting, re-packaging and bouquet-making. One of the key selling points of the DFC is that it promises to offer tenants exceptionally low total occupancy costs.
With 24-hour access to the centre, the key to maintaining the quality of fresh flowers is the ‘cool chain’, which ensures blooms are kept in temperature-controlled conditions throughout the whole journey from farm to customer.
Once within the DFC itself, the flowers will go to segregated storage areas, each with its own specific temperature and humidity. Ethylene scrubbers in the centre will ensure that flowers are not damaged by the ethylene gas given off by ripening fruit or vegetables.
When the time comes for the flowers to leave Dubai, refrigerated trucks will carry them to the outbound aircraft in order to ensure that the cool chain remains unbroken.
Switzerland-based ADI Consulting has been appointed by DFC management to handle all operational and commercial aspects of the DFC under the direction of Ali Khalfan Al Jallaf, director of the Dubai Flower Centre. ADI will develop internal work processes and support the completion of design and technology specifications for the facility.
DAS Air Cargo, the leading all-cargo airline, has announced plans to operate flights to the DFC which will bring substantial new capacity for perishables freight flying into and out of Dubai.

Car park
Meanwhile, the new car park is being built at Terminal 1 should ease traffic congestion and parking problems at the airport when it opens later this year.
The new two-storey facility will be able to hold up to 650 cars. In addition, further slots will be provided for other vehicles including spaces for 22 minivans, 44 for vehicles of car rental companies, 10 for tour operators’ coaches, 36 for limousines, 36 for taxis and four spaces for municipality buses plying on routes originating or terminating at the airport.