Construction and transport sector contracts worth over $39 billion have been awarded for projects in the GCC in the first half of 2013; Qatar Rail is the top ranked awarding client and ABV Rock is the top ranked contractor by value of contracts awarded.
Contracts worth $39 billion have been awarded for projects in the construction and transport sectors in the GCC during the first six months of 2013, according to regional project tracking database, MEED Projects. Nearly a quarter of this total estimated amount (24 per cent) was awarded by Qatar Rail for five packages of the Doha Metro. These five contracts, worth an estimated $8.4bn, ranked Qatar Rail top of the list of clients to award contracts in 2013 and makes Qatar the biggest market in the GCC for construction and transport awards.
The second ranked client is the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Interior: four contracts worth $6.1bn for the Security Forces Medical Complex in Riyadh and the KAP 3 and 4 security compounds. Saudi Ministry of Interior’s awards contributed 17 per cent of total awards in the GCC during the first half of 2013.
Contracting consortiums dominate the list of the top 10 ranked contractors, reflecting the size and number of contracts being awarded by Qatari clients. Five of the 10 biggest contracts were awarded to consortiums for projects in Doha: four for the Doha Metro and one for Phase 3 of the Msheireb Downtown Doha development. The top ranked contractor is Saudi Binladin Group, after the award of a $3.5b contract for Abraj Kudai in Mecca.
Just one UAE project features in the rankings for the top 10 clients: Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island; the contract, worth $653 million, placed TDIC in seventh position in the client rankings and the contracting consortium of Arabtec and Oger at twelfth.
Back in Saudi, the Ministry of Housing awarded six infrastructure projects worth more than $1bn. Al Rashid Contracting won the housing location near Riyadh airport worth nearly one third the Ministry awards year to date.
(Wam)
26 June