NEW product launches and strategic expansions to production facilities in the Gulf region are on the cards for Hempel Paints in 2011 as the company seeks to increase its market share for decorative, marine and protective paints and coatings.

SAUDI ARABIA’S Raghadan Paints says its new premium coatings have been well received by the market following successful promotions at building materials and interior décoration exhibitions in the kingdom.

KBR, a US construction company, won an engineering and project management contract for a planned 400,000 barrel-a-day refinery at Jazan in Saudi Arabia from state oil producer Saudi Aramco. Aramco is developing the $7 billion project to meet domestic demand for refined products and boost economic growth.

SAUDI ARABIA’S Transport Ministry is to spend SR11.3 billion ($3 billion) for 389 new road projects to be built across the kingdom. The ministry has also allocated SR750 million ($199 million) for road maintenance and SR50 million ($13.3 million) for conducting studies on 2,762 km of new roads.

THE municipality of Kuwait City has signed an agreement with Canada’s Malone Given Parsons to redesign the masterplan for the proposed City of Silk and Bubiyan Island developments.

A JOINT venture of Italy-based international construction firm Astaldi and Turkish contractor Ozkar Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret has won a contract to upgrade the Bidbid-Sur highway in the Sharqiya region of Oman at a cost of RO125.23 million ($325.3 million).

SAUDI ARABIA signed contracts valued at SR9.39 billion ($2.5 billion) for four railway stations on a line linking Makkah and Madinah, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. One of the contracts valued at SR3.18 billion ($848 million) is for a station at Makkah, and a second worth SR1.

SEC signs $204m contractsTHE Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has signed five contracts worth SR766.3 million ($204.3 million) with local firms to boost power installations. The deals cover various regions in the kingdom and aim to build and expand substations as well as installing a power grid.

OMAN’S Phoenix Solar, a subsidiary of German international photovoltaic system integrator Phoenix Solar,  is building a solar park with a peak power of 3.5 MW for Saudi Aramco.

ARABTEC has been awarded a contract worth $245 million to build two colleges in Kuwait in conjunction with a local firm, the company said. Dubai-based Arabtec’s share of the work at the Sabah Al Salem University will take 42 months to complete with the rest being built by Kuwait’s Combined Group Company.

JACOBS Engineering Group has been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Company (Luberef) to provide front-end engineering design (Feed) services to support an expansion project at its lube oil refinery in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

KUWAIT has started construction of a new elevated motorway in the western part of its capital city which is expected to cost close to a billion dollars.

SAUDI ARABIA’S Abdul Latif Jameel Group (ALJ), the sole distributor for Toyota forklifts in the kingdom, has  has unveiled a booklet offering tips on how to drive safely and get the most of the machines.

BAHRAIN’S King last month ordered two new cities to be constructed in the kingdom immediately. HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa  also issued directives to carry out new housing projects across Bahrain while appointing a new housing minister, Dr Majeed Al Alawi, in an effort to solve the nation’s housing shortage.

SIEMENS Qatar’s specialist unit Siemens Water Technologies will provide French company Vinci Construction with odour-reducing technology for its pump station 70 in Al Kheisa, Qatar. Under the contract, valued at approximately $3.

SAUDI ARABIA’S Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has awarded local architectural consultancy Omrania a contract to design the masterplan of a mixed-use residential and commercial development on the outskirts of the Saudi capital called Kingdom Riyadh Land.

A RESIDENTIAL CAMPUS for the Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University (PMU) in Al Khobar has been approved by Prince Mohammad bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz, the governor of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

A STUNNING building that is set to bring about a revolution in urban lifestyle with its innovative “vertical gardens” is set to open this month in the heart of Istanbul’s new centre Buyukdere Caddesi.