Environmental monitors in place
SCOTT Wilson has designed an environmental monitoring and management system that provides automated real-time updates and analysis for Diyar Al Muharraq, one of Bahrain’s largest mixed-use master-planned projects. Called Diana, the system utilises strategically placed environmental monitoring stations around the Diyar Al Muharraq reclamation area to provide a steady stream of data, which is analysed and compared against the set quality assurance standards and regulations. If these are breached, the system informs the operators and concerned regulatory bodies, such as the Directorate for Environmental Assessment and Planning (DEAP), for action, and saves both time and money.

Causeway faces further delay
WORK on the multi-billion-dollar Bahrain-Qatar Causeway may be further postponed to the end of the year, according to a report in The Peninsula newspaper.
Work on the 43-km-long bridge, which will also include a rail link, was to have started in January this year before a redesign saw the project postponed to June.
 Now, Yves Thibault de Silguy, the chairman of the Vinci Group – the consortium leader on the project, has told the Qatari newspaper that he is hopeful of work starting by the end of the year, following the completion of further studies.
“We have more than 150 engineers working here and more in Europe to complete the study and I hope the study will be finished before the end of this year and by this time, work will start,” Silguy was quoted as saying. “I think the project may be finished around 2013,” he added.

Lack of experts affecting industry
A LACK of expertise in the construction industry is threatening to delay the completion of projects in Bahrain, an expert has warned. Geotechnical and infrastructure engineering specialist Dr Hakop Mirzabaigian said many structural engineers appeared not to have enough knowledge to carry out their duties properly. He said if the problem was not rectified it could lead to projects going over budget and not meeting their delivery targets.
“The most important thing is that there is not enough expertise in Bahrain and in the region as a whole,” Dr Mirzabaigian claimed.
“A lot of work is done by structural engineers who haven’t got the right knowledge and some of it is done by contractors who are there to carry out the site investigations, he added.
Dr Mirzabaigian made the comments at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Salmaniya, where he had been invited to talk about construction development. More than 30 people attended the event, held at the Golden Tulip Hotel.

Dukhan highway opened
QATAR has opened a new 42-km highway between Dukhan and Doha Highway, improving journey times between Qatar Petroleum’s oil and gas centre in Dukhan and the administrative capital of Doha.
Commissioned by Ashgal, the national Public Works Authority, in July 2005, the highway and five interchanges were built by expanding an existing two-lane road. Atkins provided project management, pre-contract design services, construction supervision, and post-contract site supervision services for the contract.

Qatar’s energy city progresses
SEVENTY per cent of the infrastructure work on Energy City Qatar (ECQ), a multi-billion-dollar ultra-modern oil and gas industry hub, is complete.
ECQ chief executive Hesham Al Emadi said the infrastructure work for the business park in Lusail is slated for completion by the end of this year.
He also said the first anchor tenants are expected to move in by the fourth quarter of next year. About 52 developers are involved in the project’s 92 individual plots that make up the business park.
The Gulf’s first oil and industry hub, ECQ will be a single point of access to markets and expertise intended to attract leaders in oil and gas production, support services, infrastructure and downstream activities.

Refinery work put back by a year
QATAR has delayed several projects, including the planned Al Shaheen refinery, for about one year to take advantage of lower prices, Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah said, as the global financial meltdown brings down construction costs.
Al Attiyah said that when these projects were first conceived, costs were high. Qatar, however, now “expects costs to drop by 30 per cent or more,” he said, citing the Al Shaheen refinery as one example. The plant has a planned capacity of about 250,000 barrels per day and was initially projected to start up next year.
Several Opec members have either cancelled or delayed projects amid the meltdown. Kuwait, for example, backed out of a $17.2-billion deal with US giant Dow Chemicals and said the fate of the country’s planned fourth refinery, a $14-billion project, would be decided after a new parliament was elected.

Bank to build $15m headquarters
Bahrain’s Futurebank is to build a 19-storey tower in Seef district at a cost of more than BD5.9 million ($15 million) to serve as its global headquarters.
The Futurebank Tower (right) will have a gross built-up area of around 15,000 sq m. Apart from housing Futurebank’s headquarters, the building will have six podium parking levels, an amenity level, offices and executive floors. Designed by UAE-based ARC International, the building is inspired by Arabian architecture styles and will infuse contemporary designs with modern Islamic art.
Futurebank has appointed Al Dahiya Construction and Real Estate as the project manager for the tower. The project is scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2010.

Qatargas 2 is inaugurated
Qatargas last month inaugurated Qatargas 2, the world’s first fully-integrated value-chain liquefied natural gas (LNG) venture at Ras Laffan.
Qatargas 2 is the culmination of Qatargas’ project to create a fully-integrated value chain. The LNG trains represent a 50 per cent increase on any performance previously achieved in the global energy industry.
Combined, Qatargas 2 consists of three offshore unmanned platforms, two world-class LNG trains, five storage tanks, two loading berths, a fleet of 14 state-of-the-art LNG ships and a receiving terminal in Milford Haven in the UK.

Consortium plans $640m residence
A Saudi consortium of Kinan International Real Estate Development, Savola Group and Ebela Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Binladin Group, is to build a $640-million residential project in Jeddah.
Built over 3 million sq m, the project will target the middle-class market and will be completed over six years. The first phase will be completed in two years.
Upon completion, the project will provide more than 8,000 homes including apartments, villas and duplexes. Kinan holds 24 per cent equity in the project and is the lead developer. Savola holds 30 per cent and Ebela has 39 per cent.
Meanwhile, work on a mixed-use complex – another of Kinan’s flagship projects in Saudi Arabia – has been delayed until the end of the year because the company is still looking for partners. The complex will include two towers and is estimated to cost between $640 million and $720 million.

Qatar bucks contraction
Qatar is bucking the overall downward trend in the Gulf with strong growth in construction, according to Proleads Global’s latest report. “While the Qatar economy is not immune to the global economic slowdown, it is expected to continue a reasonable rate of growth this year, driven by the benefits from a long-term strategy to export liquefied natural gas from its vast gas field,” said Emil Rademeyer, director of Proleads Global.
Proleads’ latest report called Insight Qatar found that the industry as at the end of March 2009 had 191 major projects with a total value of $82.5 billion. Further analysis of completed projects found that more than 82 per cent of all projects are late but that delays do not affect budgetary spend.

One-third of GCC projects on hold
ONE-third of real estate and construction projects in the GCC have been cancelled or put on hold due to the economic downturn, according to a report by Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz).
The report also shows that the UAE is home to 91 per cent of the 31 per cent suspended or scrapped developments worth a total of $249 billion in the region.