Hafeet Rail, the planned Oman-UAE railway, has awarded the construction contracts for its key railway facilities in Oman to Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Power China, while the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) has been contracted to supply a cutting-edge fleet of freight wagons.

Dar Global, the London-listed luxury real estate developer, said it has secured financing from the National Bank of Oman (NBO) to support the development of Aida, a luxurious gated community in Oman, perched on a cliff 130 m above the Gulf of Oman.

India’s top engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has announced that its Minerals & Metals business vertical has been awarded a contract to set up a pellet plant and a Direct Reduction of Iron (DRI) plant for a leading steel producer in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

Having developed the GCC region’s first Sustainable Construction Code, the Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (GORD) – a subsidiary of Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company – has signed an agreement with the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) for integrating the code into the wider Gulf Building Code.

Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) has awarded the contract for conducting a study and detailed design for the first phase of the 111-km Kuwait-Saudi railway project to Turkish engineering and consulting company Proyapi, reported Kuwait News Agency (Kuna).

Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) marked the groundbreaking of the first- of-its-kind Masirah Island Interconnection Project last month.

Construction costs in key GCC markets are likely to rise, with a two to five per cent and five to seven per cent jump respectively expected in costs in the UAE and in Saudi Arabia this year, according to a report by Currie & Brown, a world-leading provider of cost management, project management and advisory services.

The Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) has sealed a landmark financing agreement with Qatar Development Fund (QDF) that paves the way for a transformative direct grid connection project linking the GCC network with Oman.