Drake & Scull International completes two projects in Kuwait worth Dh271 million

Drake & Scull International (DSI) completed two separate engineering and construction projects in Kuwait worth Dh271 million through its subsidiary DSI Kuwait, the company said on Tuesday.

The company said it had completed work on both the Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Salem Al Sabah Indoor Sports Complex and a project at Sabah Al Salem University City.

Under the terms of the Dh71m sports complex contract, DSI Kuwait is responsible for supplying, installing and connecting fire alarms and sprinklers, heating, ventillation and air conditioning, among others. The complex was inaugurated on January 16 during the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Men's Handball Championship, the company said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market.

The other contract, valued at Dh200m, is related to the construction of Sabah Al Salem University's College of Arts and Education. DSI Kuwait was awarded a contract for mechanical, electrical and plumbing works on the college in September 2011.

"These two key projects demonstrate DSI Kuwait's strong capabilities in executing complex, high-quality work," said DSI chairman Shafiq Abdelhamid.

DSI, like its peers in the UAE, has struggled due to a softer property and construction sector in its home UAE market. It posted a net loss of Dh4.5 billion for 2018, widening from Dh1.18bn in 2017

Last week, the company said it is pursuing legal action against its former chief executive Khaldoun Tabari to extradite him to the UAE following his arrest in Jordan. It also filed fresh criminal complaints against Mr Tabari, his daughter and other former executive managers with the Abu Dhabi Public Funds Prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the matter.The construction market in Kuwait witnessed a slowdown in 2019, with the pace of project awards in the fourth quarter slowing to a historically weak level of 180million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh2.1bn), compared to 281m dinars during the same period in 2018, according to a note by National Bank of Kuwait on Tuesday.

Total awards stood at 1.1bn dinars in 2019, despite an initially planned figure of 4.4bn dinars at the start of the year.

“This was largely due to delays, prolonged bid negotiations and various technical difficulties, especially in the challenging area of public-private partnerships,” the report said, citing MEED projects data.

About 8bn dinars worth of projects are planned for 2020, mostly in the petrochemical sector, it added.