Pearl-Qatar – a multi-billion-dollar offshore island and one of Qatar’s largest real estate developments – recently completed a massive quay wall at the Porto Arabia precinct. The walls, which are constructed in four courses of staggered precast blocks with the in-situ cast capping beam and a height set at 6.

Sky Oryx, a joint venture of the Turkish airport operator TAV and Japan’s Taisei have received the go-ahead for the $800 million passenger terminal contract at the Doha airport.

Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim Investments has awarded a joint venture of Cebarco and Malaysia’s WCT the main contract for the BD155 million ($419 million) Bahrain City Centre mall.

MZ & Partners, the lead architect for Energy City Qatar(ECQ), has announced the signing of strategic agreements with Associated Consulting Engineers (ACE) and Parsons International Limited (Parsons) for the multi-billion-dollar Energy City Qatar project.

Gensler – a leading global architecture, design and strategic consulting firm – has been appointed to design the new headquarters in Cairo for Al-Mansour, the distributor for General Motors in Egypt.

Bahrain-based Gulf Shade – a leading manufacturer of tensile fabric structures – was recently involved in the fabrication and installation of an innovative traditional boat made of fabric for a project in Manama.

Kirby Building Systems affiliate in India – Kirby India – will soon inaugurate its second plant at Haridwar, Uttaranchal in India, according to Marwan Karadsheh, vice president of the manufacturing group of Alghanim Industries, the parent company of Kirby.

Diar Real Estate Investment Company of Qatar has recently awarded a consortium of Degremont (France), Marubeni Corporation (Japan) and Mushrif Trading and Contracting Company (Kuwait) a $200 million design-build-operate contract on the Lusail sewage transfer and treatment system in Qatar.

Continuing its efforts to popularise the recent developments in indoor and outdoor lighting, Riyadh-based Al Nasser Company – in association with global lighting giant Philips Lighting – organised a series of seminars on indoor and outdoor lighting in Jeddah and Riyadh.

Durrat Al Bahrain has announced the award of a BD6.99 million ($18.5 million) contract for the construction of 83 villas on one of the 13 islands of the residential, leisure and tourist resort, the kingdom’s largest planned mixed-use development.

Qatar Gas Transportation Company (Nakilat) has signed a letter of intent (LoI) with Keppel Offshore and Marine (O&M) of Singapore to jointly develop and manage a major new facility in the Port of Ras Laffan, Qatar, for the construction, repair and maintenance of marine structures. The QR1.

Schlumberger has recently inaugurated a new state-of-the-art oil-field research centre – Schlumberger Dhahran Carbonate Research (SDCR) – which will house a team of international scientists working on oil and gas industry research projects in collaboration with other research institutes, both in the kingdom and worldwide.

The sixth part of the Cares Guide to Reinforcing Steels – a four-page insert is within this issue. The 10-part guide is being offered exclusively to Gulf Construction readers.

Reclamation work has recently started on the $5 billion Northern Town development, coming up on the north-western coast of Bahrain.

Work on a BD10 million plus ($26.55 million) new campus of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI-MUB) started off at Busaiteen, Muharraq, with Bahrain’s Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Mary Harney jointly laying the foundation stone.

QP plans major housing projectDoha: Qatar Petroleum (QP) has awarded a QR826 million ($227 million) contract to Qatar Real Estate Investment Company (QREIC) for a major housing project at Mesaieed Industrial City, Qatar.

Work on a new $100 million (BD37.8 million) resort will begin in Al Areen by the end of the year. The Al Waha Resort project, launched last month will be executed out by Enshaa Development Real Estate Company. The project, coming up on an area of 53,000 sq m, is the first of a string of projects lined up by the $10 billion (BD3.

Germany-based Gail Architektur Keramik – a leading supplier of swimming pool ceramics for Olympic games – has been awarded the contract for the supply of ceramic tiles for two sports pools that will host aquatic sporting events during the 15th Asian Games 2006 to be held in Doha, Qatar from December 1 to 15.

Zamil Steel has been awarded a contract valued at SR34 million ($9.2 million) to supply fabricated structural steel products and process equipment for Kuwait Oil Company’s OL2K ethylene project (Olefins 2 Kuwait).

Two aluminium plants in the region – one in Saudi Arabia and the other in Qatar – received the go-ahead last month. The Saudi government has approved the construction of a SR14.086 billion ($3.76 billion) aluminium smelter with an annual capacity of 623,000 tonnes.

A financial close was recently finalised on the SR4.5 billion ($1.2 billion) Rabigh power, water and steam and water desalination plant at Rabigh in the Western Province of Saudi Arabia.

Having introduced cutting-edge audiovisual installation and integration technologies and applications for both residential and commercial projects, Install 2006, part of the Palme, the Middle East’s professional sound, light, music, audiovisual and systems integration exhibition, will feature the world’s top manufacturers and technology leaders

Glasstec 2006 – the glass technology trade fair to be held at Düsseldorf, Germany, in October (24 to 28) – is expecting an increase in participation from manufacturers in the Middle East. Dr.

The 2006 edition of Project Qatar – originally scheduled to be held in September – will now be be staged from May 1 to 4 at the Qatar International Exhibition Centre.

The sixth Airport Build and Supply Exhibition, to be held from June 5 to 7, is attracting a record response, with over 400 of the world’s leading suppliers expected to descend on Dubai to capitalise on more than $40 billion worth of airport developments currently taking place across the Middle East.

Light Middle East, organised by Germany-based Epoc Messe Frankfurt is expected to attract some of the world’s leading experts and manufacturers in architectural, urban and residential lighting design, when it opens at the Dubai World Trade Centre next month (May 14 to 16).

Following the successful completion of the first Intelligent Building Middle East (IBME) last year, the organisers of the show have already confirmed a large portion of this year’s exhibition space to many returning exhibitors.

The 29th International Turkeybuild 2006 Istanbul Fair, organised by The Building Information Centre, Turkey, is expected to showcase the latest in technology and products from more than 800 companies from 50 countries when it opens next month.