There have been some questions raised about our post last week on Arabtec. So we'll do our best to clear things up. Arabtec issued a statement last week saying that "the receivables due direct from the Government projects represent a small part of the total amounts and that payment for these specific projects are flowing in a timely manner and in accordance with the contractual agreed terms". That shed more light on the statements by Arabtec's chief executive, Riad Kamal, to the press earlier this month.
On May 9, Riad Kamal, the chief executive, said: "The outstandings for Arabtec stand at Dh3.6 billion& 80 per cent of this outstanding amount is owed by Dubai government and quasi-government entities", according to Gulf News. He told Reuters that the amount was Dh3bn, but also quoted the 80 per cent number.
The important thing to note here is the difference between Government entities and quasi-Government entities, such as the big Dubai developers. Using the process of elimination, we can assume that if Government represents a "small part", then quasi-Governmental companies are doing most of the owing.