Construction World - Gulf Edition | June 2008

Testing mettle

Steel and cement have breached all limits and have prompted countries to action. India for one has had closed door meetings with the manufacturers and has pressurised them to reduce prices. Oman saw the prices of steel soaring to RO 510 per tonne, compared to RO 470 last month. A number of contractors observed that this increase might cause a real crisis in the real estate sector, particularly shortage of supply of cement to residential and commercial buildings. The government of Oman granted its approval for setting up five new cement factories as part of arrangements made by the Ministry to meet local demand for cement. The GCC is planning a big move. More than $18 billion is being invested in 46 steel manufacturing plants throughout the Arabian Gulf. Steel, besides construction, is also required to manufacture material handling machinery. Topping the list of projects is an integrated complex of steel factories in Saudi Arabia which will turn out 500,000 tonne a year of railway track, three million tonne a year of iron and steel processing and production plant and 800,000 tonne a year of pipeline manufacturing plant. Of the top ten projects, four are in Saudi Arabia, three in the UAE, two in Qatar and one in Oman.

Keeping pace with realty and construction is the ceramic tiles market. The global market for ceramic tiles is projected to reach over 102 billion square feet by 2010. Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) and the Middle East with a double-digit combined annual growth rate of almost 12 per cent are projected to emerge as the fastest growing regions for ceramic tiles. The hospitality industry, our cover story this issue, contributes greatly to the ceramic tile industry. Real estate projects announced in Abu Dhabi so far, including those under planning and development, are estimated to cross $466 billion (Dh. 1.71 trillion) when completed, according to the latest update at this year's Cityscape. These, developers say, collectively represent the 'tip of the iceberg' compared to what is expected in the coming years. The figure is significantly higher than the $327 billion project value estimated last year.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD GULF AWARDS also broke ground on May 26th at Fairmont Hotel, Dubai where our over four month exercise in identifying the deserving winners concluded. The awards are a true test of mettle during such steely times. The awards are just the beginning of what CW plans to offer our readers this year.
Stay tuned…