THE iconic Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC), which has been hailed as the 21st century model of urban planning, opened its doors last month in Doha, Qatar.

A CONSORTIUM led by ACWA Power of Saudi Arabia  recently issued notice to proceed with the construction of the largest independent power project (IPP) in the world, which will be located in the kingdom.

EMCO and Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) – PCM division (now, PCMC) have won the Best Water Project of the Year Award for their collaboration on a nano-filtration project in Hail, Saudi Arabia.

$143m deals signed SAUDI Arabia’s Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al Hussayen signed a number of water and sewage contracts worth more than SR539 million ($143 million), including one to establish the kingdom’s first tertiary sewage purification plant.

MSHEIREB Properties has awarded a joint venture of Carillion (Qatar) and Qatar Building Company (QBC) a construction contract valued at QR2.37 billion ($650.7 million) for the key phase of its flagship project, Msheireb Downtown Doha.

SAUDI Arabian Fertilizers Company (Safco) has awarded a turnkey project to Italy’s Saipem to design and build a SR2 billion ($533 million) urea plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Production capacity at the new plant – to be funded internally – is expected to reach 1.1 million tonnes of urea per year, Safco said.

SIEMENS has announced that the main components – including the heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) – for the first two units of the Ras Al Khair combined cycle power plant (CCPP) in Saudi Arabia are now ready for immediate on-schedule delivery.

DRAKE & Scull Saudi, the MEP arm of Drake & Scull International (DSI) in the kingdom, has recently signed two deals worth a total of SR482 million ($128.5 million for projects in Saudi Arabia, bringing to the total value of its orders in Saudi Arabia last year to more than SR2.5 billion ($666.7 million).

SAUDI ARABIA has set aside SR250 billion ($66.66 billion) from the 2011 budget surplus to fund one of its special projects, the construction of 500,000 homes. Announcing next year’s state budget last month, the finance ministry said the kingdom will achieve a budget surplus of SR306 billion ($81.6 billion) this year.

KUWAIT-based real estate developer Alargan International Real Estate Company (Airec) has launched the Qurm Hills project in the heart of Oman’s capital. The mega project will take shape on a total land area of 165,000 sq m.

THE final phase of the multi-billion-riyal Haramain High-Speed Rail project is be flagged off soon, with the signing of an agreement to purchase 35 trains with 13 carriages, traffic signs and railway tracks, which will be installed by a Saudi-Spanish consortium, according to the Saudi Gazette.

DAMAC Properties has awarded the main construction contract for its Versace-branded residential development, Damac Tower in Beirut, Lebanon, to MAN Enterprise. The $67-million contract entails the construction of the first Versace-branded residential tower in the region.