UAE keeps building on reputation

DUBAI // The era of towering cranes and fast-paced prestige projects is back in force.

The UAE has kept its number one spot in the GCC’s construction projects market for the second year in a row, after losing it in 2009 during the global economic downturn.

The Meed Insight report, to be released on Thursday, puts the UAE well ahead of Saudi Arabia.

It also holds the largest chunk of future projects.

“If you look at the value of contracts, in the UAE US$52 billion [Dh190.9bn] worth of contracts were awarded last year,” said Ed James, head of Meed Insight and author of the GCC Construction report 2015.

“And $40bn were in the construction sector for buildings, roads, tunnels, infrastructure, education, healthcare and tourism projects.

“Most of this is in Dubai, which is the real estate hub for the region. Construction projects awarded in Dubai in 2013 were $20.6bn, equal to 52 per cent of all construction projects in the UAE.

“The figure for Saudi Arabia last year for construction projects was $25bn.”

Saudi Arabia remains the largest projects market overall in oil and gas and petrochemicals.

Future construction projects across the GCC exceed $1 trillion, of which the UAE has $428bn and Saudi Arabia has $417bn.

“So the UAE also has the largest market for future projects over the next five years,” Mr James said.

Construction has traditionally been the largest sector in the region, with slightly more than $500bn worth of civil projects, excluding railways and airports, awarded in the GCC since 2006.

This covers active projects, not those put on hold or cancelled.

Private-sector funding challenges is one reason for the large number of deferred projects, the report said.

A combination of on-hold and cancelled projects make up 44 per cent or $1.06tn of the total GCC projects, with more than half in the UAE, mainly Dubai.

The UAE, particularly Dubai, accounts for 66 per cent of the GCC projects on hold, valued at $490bn, and about 64 per cent of cancelled GCC projects, worth $589bn.

The recent construction rebound has been led by property projects announced by the Dubai Government, such as the Dubai Creek canal extension and revived developments such as the tram and metro extensions.

“Obviously Dubai has the most number of cancelled and on-hold projects but that is also because it had most of the projects awarded, and a lot of it was based on private-sector speculation,” Mr James said.

“Also, at the peak we saw $100bn worth of contracts being awarded, which is twice as much as last year.

“What we are seeing now is more government and quasi-government entities announcing projects and people are more comfortable because the companies are government linked.

“The tram was on hold and is now nearly finished. The Metro extension is now revived.

“We have seen on hold projects being revived such as Palm Jumeirah Mall.

“People have learnt their lesson and the market has experienced the crash so new projects today tend to be more commercially viable than the ones we saw in 2007 and 2008.”

About 217 high-profile projects, including the dizzying 1-kilometre tall Nakheel Harbour and Tower, and Dubai’s version of Las Vegas without the casinos in the Bawadi development in Dubailand, were cancelled between 2009 and 2011, Real Estate Regulatory Agency data showed last year.

The market intelligence firm Meed Insight bases findings on data gathered by 40 researchers who monitor the status of projects across sectors in the Middle East.

It tracks more than 15,000 major projects in the region.

rtalwar@thenational.ae

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Defending champions

World Series: South Africa
Women’s World Series: Australia
Gulf Men’s League: Dubai Exiles
Gulf Men’s Social: Mediclinic Barrelhouse Warriors
Gulf Vets: Jebel Ali Dragons Veterans
Gulf Women: Dubai Sports City Eagles
Gulf Under 19: British School Al Khubairat
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UAE National Schools: Al Safa School
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Recent winners

2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)

2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)

2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)

2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)

2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)

2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)

2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)

2011 Maria Farah (Canada)

2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)

2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)

2014 Lia Saad (UAE)

2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)

2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)

2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)

2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)

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Total votes: 1.8 million

Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes

Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes

What the law says

Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.

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Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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