ALFARES International Company Steel Industry and Scaffolding is boosting its capabilities with the establishment of a new structural steel facility covering approximately 10,000 sq m at Sudair Industrial City on Al Qassim Road in the Central Province.

This latest facility will initially have a capacity to fabricate 4,000 to 4,500 tonnes per year (tpy) of structural steel, which eventually will rise to 10,000 tpy, says Essam Muhammad Alfares, the company’s general manager operations.

The factory is expected to be operational by July this year.

Based in Riyadh, Alfares International is involved in manufacturing, fabrication, sales and rental of scaffolding and accessories. It also offers formwork systems for columns and walls.

“Ours is a 100 per cent Saudi scaffolding system; it is lightweight but can be used in heavy-duty applications,” he says.

The scaffolding is manufactured at a steel fabrication factory in Al Kharj over an area of 10,000 sq m.

Alfares International also offers technical manpower and services, structural drafting and designing services, import, export, assembling, dismantling, and spare parts for scaffolding.

This apart, the company has secured the sole distributorship of wooden PSF-20 formwork beams from Pfeifer Holz of Austria for Saudi Arabia, and is poised to further extend its partnership with the Austrian company for additional systems.

Quoting a Business Monitor International (BMI) study, Alfares says Saudi Arabia is expected to register a robust 7.5 per cent real industry growth for 2013, based on the significant number of contracts awarded both in 2011 (140 per cent year-on-year increase) and the second half of 2012 (50 per cent increase year on year), as well as increased government spending pledged in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Alfares International Company has just secured a deal to supply scaffolding for a government project in Hail, as well as for the Grand Mosque extension and Jebel Omar development in Makkah. In addition, it has won four university contracts – two in Hail, and one each in Madinah and Al Hassa.

Its ongoing work includes supplying the King Saud University project under a contract worth SR9 million ($2.4 million) from ABV Rock Group; and Riyadh Hilton Hotel and Residence project under a contract worth SR1 million ($266,645) from Al Latifia Contracting Company.

It is also working on projects with Saudi Technical Company under a contract worth SR7 million ($1.86 million); Munasib Contracting, worth SR2 million ($533,291); Assas Al Arad, worth SR1.6 million ($426,633); and Al Arrab Contracting, worth SR5.3 million ($1.41 million), Alfares says without revealing details.

Amongst the many projects the company has successfully carried out are the ITCC project with Al Rajhi Contracting, worth SR4 million ($1.066 million), Princess Nora University project with Saudi Oger, worth SR13 million ($3.46 million), and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) with First Saudi Contracting, worth SR2 million ($533,291).

Established in 1980, Al Fares International Company Steel and Scaffolding has its head office in Riyadh, a fabrication steel factory in Al Kharj over an area of 10,000 sq m, in addition to the upcoming structural steel facility in Sudair Industrial City. It also has warehouses-stores in Riyadh and Al Kharj over 15,000 sq m area.

The company owns a fleet of industrial cranes, automobiles, trailers and pick-ups including tower and telescopic cranes industrial forklifts, industrial cutting and welding machines, and heavy-duty industrial compressors.