Gulf Construction Online

Regional News

Update

01 April 2008

Saudi Landbridge tenders by June
Saudi Arabia’s railway organisation will award the estimated $5 billion Landbridge project to build a 1,100 km railway across the Saudi desert as early as June, according to a report.

Four groups of Saudi and international firms are vying for the 30-year contract to build and operate the rail network linking the Gulf and Red Sea coasts of the world's largest oil exporter, and final bids are now being invited.
The group that asks for the minimum grant from the government and meets the financial models will be the preferred bidder.
Work set to start on $2bn town
Work is set to begin this month on Bahrain’s BD1 billion ($2.65 billion) Northern Town.
The work will include levelling islands for development, building government houses, infrastructure projects, landscaping, quay wall construction and building a sewage treatment plant.
The town will be built on an area of 740 hectares and divided into 14 islands. The aim is to provide 15,000 government houses by 2016.
“The levelling works will continue until August, while work on government housing on one of the islands is expected to begin in May and continue until December next year,” said Housing and Urban Development Committee secretary Ali Mattar.
“There are six templates for houses we are building, in addition to four templates for the apartment buildings.
$794m airport expansion planned
Plans for a major BD300 million ($794 million) expansion of Bahrain International Airport have been revised.
Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) chairman Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa said the proposed passenger terminal expansion project would concentrate on expanding the terminal capacity to meet the country's air transportation requirements for the next two decades.
He said the roads within the airport and the network linking it to the new Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Port and industrial areas would benefit importers, exporters and local traders as well as strengthening Bahrain’s status as a major regional transhipment centre.
“Work on the remote apron is about to commence shortly,” he said. “The other parts of the passenger terminal expansion project are in the process of being reviewed and fine-tuned.
“On the basis of the review, a revised schedule and the business plans will be drawn and implemented expeditiously.”
Shaikh Daij revealed BAC was in the process of reviewing and fine-tuning an ambitious masterplan commissioned by Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA).
Hochtief wins Barwa contract
German builder Hochtief has won a contract for a commercial and residential development from Qatar’s Barwa Real Estate Company.
Hochtief will build shops, office and residential buildings in the Barwa Commercial Avenue development in the Qatari capital, Doha.
“Hochtief will begin implementing the construction phases of the project through sub-contracting some of the phases and units to local contractors,” Barwa said in a report.
Construction is due to be completed by 2011, Barwa said, without giving the value of the contract.
KAAIA renovation nears completion
Renovation and expansion work on the King Abdul Aziz International Airport’s (KAAIA) southern terminal is expected to be complete in another three months, giving the airport a new look. According to a recent report, once complete, the airport could have its terminal expanded by 16,000 sq m.
The expansion is said to include 13 new gates – six for domestic, six for international and one for rush hours – new luggage belts, check point counters, more than eight elevators, making check-in and check-out smoother and quicker for passengers.
In all 65 counters will be added to the domestic and international sections. In the departure terminal, 18 ticket counters have been added, in addition to a waiting area and space for airlines offices.
Much of the renovation work is already over, said the report. The renovation has also included the replacement of the entire ceiling and floor, as well as the luggage belts. In the waiting area, the old offices, shops, bank branches, car-renting offices and restaurants have been upgraded, the report added.
Qatalum project on track
Site preparation is almost completed, and the foundations for some of the buildings have already been laid on Qatalum’s new aluminium smelter project in Qatar, according to Qatalum and Hydro Projects, the contractor.
“Preparing the construction site has been a large operation which is now being completed. We are in the middle of a transition to a phase where the contractors really start mobilising both equipment and crews to the site,” says Erik Smith, Hydro’s project leader for the Qatalum project.
Qatalum has chosen Hydro’s project organisation, Projects, as EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) manager. Eleven EPC contractors have been chosen to build the various parts of the facility, and these contractors will outsource parts of their projects to smaller subcontractors.
At peak activity there will be about 10,000 workers building Qatalum.
KEC JV in $119m Saudi deal
Power equipment maker KEC International has been awarded a $119 million contract by Saudi Electric Company (SEC) for the construction of a transmission line.
The contract was secured by KEC, as part of the consortium of Al Sharif KEC, for constructing a 380 kV transmission line on a turnkey basis.
Al Sharif KEC is a consortium of Saudi Arabia-based Al-Sharif Group and KEC International.
Race narrows down for QP deal
The joint venture of Qatar Petroleum (QP) and the US’ ExxonMobil Chemical Company is set to announce a key contract for its multi-billion-dollar petrochemicals complex at Ras Laffan.
With Australia’s WorleyParsons and the US' Fluor Corporation out of the race for the project co-ordination and construction services (PCS) contract, the race has now narrowed down to between US’ Foster Wheeler, and another company.
A contract is expected to be signed soon.
The successful PCS bidder will carry out elements of the project’s front-end engineering and design (Feed) and supervise contractors involved in the project.