Oman Rail has shortlisted three consortiums for the multi-billion-dollar Segment One package of the national rail network which covers the 207-km stretch from Sohar Port to Buraimi, said a report.

A key usufruct agreement on the $2.5-billion Omagine Project was inked last month, paving the way for the development of Oman’s latest waterfront tourism and real estate project, a report said.

Glasspoint Solar, a US maker of solar steam generators for the oil and gas industry, said it plans to break ground on the world’s largest solar power station in Oman later this year.

Salini Impregilo, an Italian industrial group specialising in the construction and civil engineering business, has signed a contract for the construction of the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, 50 km north of Qatar’s capital Doha.

Egypt will launch a ‘new Suez canal’ shipping route this month (August 6) aimed at speeding up traffic along the existing waterway and boosting revenues, officials said. Dubbed the Suez Canal Axis, the new 72-km project will run part of the way alongside the existing canal that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

New investors will be roped in for a multi-million-dollar Bahrain project on the coast of Muharraq, after the original developers walked out. Plans for Al Ghous Corniche, which were initially spearheaded by a consortium of Turkish, Saudi Arabian and local businessmen, included a BD25-million ($65.

The GCC’s construction industry is upbeat foreseeing growth from 2015 to 2018, said Alpen Capital in a report. The growth hopes are based on factors such as favourable macroeconomics, positive demographics, and rising tourism activities, according to Sameena Ahmad, managing director of Alpen Capital (ME).

Leading UK-based construction group Carillion said one of its units has won a $124.2-million contract from BP for the construction of a residential complex at the Khazzan tight gas project site within Block 61 in central Oman.

A new $30-million shopping mall, which will include a supermarket and three anchor restaurants as well as 23 retail units, is due to open during the second quarter of next year in Bahrain. Work is under way on the mall in the Janabiya area of the kingdom, which is being built on a 86,000-sq-ft plot, offering 48,500 sq ft of leasable area.

ABB has won an order worth around $85 million to provide turnkey substations in Qatar. The move is aimed at supporting the integration of new power and seawater desalination plant in the country.

Amlak, a Bahrain real estate company, has invited bids for the demolition of an existing facility to pave the way for the reconstruction of its Bahrain Marina Development Project.

Construction work on a sixth potline at Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has been given the go-ahead. A major bulk of the $2.5 billion will be allotted to build the smelter and the remaining $1 billion will be pumped in to build the fifth Alba energy plant. Work on the 1.

A consortium led by Spanish building company Sacyr has won a €415 million ($466 million) contract to design and build an urban area in Ras Bufontas area of Qatar.

Mall expansion to start next year Construction of the second phase of the Oman Avenues Mall, a division of the LuLu Group International, will start early next year, a report said.

Siemens, a global technology powerhouse, said it has won a major contract from the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) for the turnkey construction of three substations in Qatar besides a contract to supply air-insulated switchgear.

Kuwait has given the go-ahead for an increase in budget for the Al Zour refinery after bids for most tenders for the five packages constituting the project came in higher than the estimated cost.

Oman’s Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) recently floated an EPCC (engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning) tender for its facilities at a refinery near Muscat.

Work will commence next month on a $124-million revamp of a major highway in Bahrain, with two roundabouts being replaced by flyovers. This follows an agreement was signed by a joint venture of Kuwait Construction and Abdulla Ahmed Nass and Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Minister Essam Khalaf.

Reynaers Aluminium, a leading European provider of innovative and sustainable architectural aluminium solutions, has embarked on a major expansion, which will see its staff strength rise significantly in the Middle East as its regional operation diversifies its business model.

WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff, a leading professional services consulting firm, has won a major highway design project in Kuwait. The project, awarded by Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works, involves developing concept and detailed designs to upgrade Kabd-Sulaibiya Highway (KSH) in the Kuwait Metropolitan Area.

Qatar has unveiled plans for the biggest industrial and logistic project in the southern part of the country featuring more than 1,850 plots stretching across 6.3 million sq m of land, a report said.