Fluor to build new Dow plant

THE Dow Chemical Company has appointed Fluor Corporation to build a new factory to manufacture reverse osmosis components for desalination plants in Saudi Arabia.

Fluor will build the plant at Second Jubail Industrial City under an engineering, procurement and construction contract. The factory will be the first reverse osmosis manufacturing plant to be built by Dow outside the US. It is scheduled for completion by the end of 2015.

The factory will be built close to the $20-billion Sadara chemical complex Dow is building in a joint venture with Saudi Aramco.

The facility will supply the markets of Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East and Africa. Dow anticipates the factory will also serve other regions where water needs are critical including Eastern Europe, India, China and South East Asia.

Equipment rental market ‘booming’

THE earthmoving equipment rental market in Saudi Arabia is growing at a rapid rate, said a market research report.

Construction companies are now focusing more on renting the equipment rather than buying it, as the chances of the equipment being idle when there is no business is moderate, said Research and Markets in its “Earthmoving Equipment Market in Saudi Arabia 2014-2018”.

Moreover, it said, companies that rent earthmoving equipment do not incur high maintenance cost for such machines. Companies such as Younes Fateh Khaja and Partners Contracting Company, Zahid Group, and Dayim Holdings provide earthmoving equipment on a rental basis for construction purposes.  Key vendors are AB Volvo, Caterpillar, JC Bamford Excavator and Komatsu.

New city plan for Unaizah revealed

A NEW city plan for Unaizah in Saudi Arabia has been unveiled by Erick van Egeraat, a Dutch architect.

The studio’s design for the city has been approved and the team is now working on developments to the masterplan and associated new-build structures, said a report by the worldarchitecturenews.com website.

Initial designs include a massive ring road which encircles the 58-hectare city centre. The one-way road would comprise four lanes of traffic and create a continuous elliptical circuit with a diameter of 800 m (east to west) and 920 m (north to south). This one-way system would be coupled with a north-south underground road which would pass beneath the centre of the city. Both the above- and below-ground routes link to underground parking garages, eliminating vehicular access to the city centre.

Work on the ring road has already commenced.

Within the limits of the city centre will be retail buildings, residences, mosques, and a major shopping mall.