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MEED
December 2006

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  • ABB upgrades smelter

    Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal) has awarded Europe's ABB a $39 million contract to upgrade the rectifier, transformer and automation systems at its Jebel Ali smelter. The contract, due to be completed by March 2008, involves replacing existing rectiformers with larger units, and upgrading control and protection systems, cables and fire-fighting equipment.

  • Abbas announces new truce

    Palestinian Authority President Abbas on 19 December announced a ceasefire deal between his Fatah party and the rival Hamas movement. 'We hope all will abide by this agreement,' Abbas said. The announcement followed a week of factional infighting, exacerbated by Abbas' call for early elections.The two groups pulled their security forces out of the streets of Gaza early on 20 December. Two Fatah policemen were killed only hours after the ceasefire

  • Abbas hopes to meet Olmert soon

    Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said he hopes to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before the end of the year. 'We are not revealing a secret when we say that we hope the meeting with Olmert will take place before the end of this year,' Abbas said on 21 December. It will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Olmert took office in January. The diplomatic push comes after Abbas called for early elections in an effort to end tensions

  • ABC syndications signed

    Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) closed two syndicated loans in late December. Capital Bank of Jordan signed a $60 million, three-year facility, lead arranged by ABC and Citigroup. Eleven banks joined the deal. ABC Islamic Bank, Gulf International Bank and Standard Chartered Bank also arranged a $200 million murabaha for Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi. A total of 32 banks joined the two-year deal, which was doubled in size due to oversubscription.

  • Abu Dhabi Commercial returns to Switzerland

    Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has issued a Swiss franc-denominated bond worth $122.9 million. The tenor is four years and the launch spread was 10 basis points over Libor. UBS was the lead manager. The paper was aimed predominantly at Swiss domestic investors. ADCB issued the first franc-denominated bond off its euro medium-term note programme in March (MEED 17:3:06).

  • Abu Dhabi Hydrogen: Looking for an alternative

    The initiative is local, but the implications are global. In March, when Abu Dhabi’s Executive Affairs Authority (EAA) announced the launch of the Masdar initiative, it did not grab the international headlines. But there are few doubts it will go a long way towards addressing increasing global concerns about energy conservation and efficiency.

  • Abu Dhabi picks Changi

    Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has selected Singapore's Changi Airports International to operate Abu Dhabi International Airport. Announcing the deal at the MEED Middle East Airports Conference, ADAC chairman and managing director Khalifa Mohammed al-Mazrouei said the appointment was the first in a series of outsourcing initiatives aimed at raising efficiency and standards at the airport.Changi's contract will run for 18 months. ADAC will also begin seeking a strategic partner for a

  • Abu Dhabi: A fast track to greater efficiency

    It has been a very quiet revolution.

  • Abyaar brings suburbia to Dubai

    Kuwait's Abyaar Real Estate has announced its third major real estate project in Dubai. The estimated $550 million Acacia Avenues project adjacent to Knowledge Village will cover 94,000 square metres.

  • Acergy wins Miskar work

    UK-based Acergy has been awarded an estimated $65 million contract for construction work on the offshore Miskar field in the Gulf of Gabes. The contract calls for the installation, tie-in and commissioning of two pipelines, together with a well control umbilical and riser to tie back three subsea wells to the Miskar A platform. The client is the UK's BG Group.

  • Acquisitions borrowing up

    Bank lending to fund mergers and acquisitions in the region has doubled in the last 12 months, according to data compiled by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). So far this year, regional institutions have borrowed $18,000 million to fund acquisitions, compared with about $9,000 million in 2005. The data also suggests that the region's appetite for debt is growing, with the debt portion of funding for deals rising from 50 per cent a year ago to 80 per cent today. 'There's been an increase in bor

  • Addax Investment Bank targets education sector

    Addax Investment Bank has launched an investment vehicle targeting the Middle East education sector. Addax Education Holdings (AEH) will invest in and manage education-related businesses in the Middle East and North Africa. Other shareholders in the new company are Dubai-based Elaph Investments, Hugh MacPherson, former chief executive officer of Dubai-based education services provider Global Education Management Systems (GEMS), and Louay Khatib, GEMS business development manager. MacPherson is t

  • Ageing facilities miss oil target

    Tripoli is unlikely to reach its oil production target of 3 million barrels a day (b/d) by 2012, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) has said in its latest production outlook. The IEA estimates that Libya will only be producing about 1.8 million b/d by 2010.

  • Ahli readies fund to invest in Lebanon and Jordan

    Beirut-based Ahli Investment Group (AIG) is setting up a $50 million fund to invest in small and medium-sized companies in Lebanon and Jordan. The fund will launch in the second quarter of 2007 after commitments are finalised from investors in the region, the US and Europe.'We will target businesses that will increase their revenue by moving across borders, for example in retail or light manufacturing, and companies that will benefit from recapitalisation to strengthen their

  • Ahmadinejad ridicules Bush

    Iranian President Ahmadinejad on 21 December mocked his US counterpart George Bush and said the West would not be able to stop Iran's nuclear programme. 'Bush can travel to one of the American states, inviting the people to a stadium to see how the people would treat him,' the ISNA students news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. 'I am sure the American people would treat Mr. Bush as the Indonesian people treated him,' he said referring to protests against the US president wh

  • Ain el-Soukhna fertiliser plant set for a revamp

    Egyptian Fertiliser Company (EFC) is planning an expansion of its urea/ammonia plant inAin el-Sokhna in the northwest Gulf of Suez.Germany's Uhdeis carrying out a feasibility study to expand ammonia production at the plant by 20 per centto 1,440 tonnes a day (t/d)from 1,200 t/d, while Netherlands-based Stamicarbon is carrying out the study to increaseurea production at the plant by 20 per cent to 2,300 t/d from 1,950 t/d. Both studies are expected to be finished by Ja

  • Airport operator ready to start up

    Aqaba Airports Company (AAC) is to start up on 1 January, ahead of a search to bring in new investors later in the year.The new company will operate King Hussain International Airport (KHIA) in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone.'We are aiming to issue a tender to seek a strategic partner [for AAC] by the end of next year,' says a senior Aqaba Development Corporation official. The US' Bearing Point is preparing the terms of reference for an investor to take a stake in the new compan

  • Airport plan takes shape

    Emaar Middle East (EME) has received bids from five local contractors to build three towers at its Jeddah City scheme. The project, known as Jeddah Gate, is part of the redevelopment of the city's old airport. The bidders are El-Seif Engineering Contracting, Al-Saad General Contracting Company, Saudi Oger, Saudi Binladin Group and Almabani General Contractors. The project will take 30 months to complete. The US' Turner Arabia is the project manager.

  • Airport work tendered

    The Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) has invited local grade 1 contractors to submit prequalification applications by 16 December for a contract to build a new air traffic control centre at Kuwait International Airport. The scope of works covers the construction and maintenance of a control centre building and a meteorology centre. A tender for the work will be issued early next year, once the prequalification shortlist has been finalised.

  • Al-Abdali section work set to start

    Work will start in early 2007 on a section of the $1,000 million mixed-use real estate project in Amman being developed by Dubai Contracting Company (DCC).To be built over an 80,500-square-metre area, the $148 million project will involve the construction of a residential complex with a total built-up area of 66,000 square metres, comprising a 34-storey tower and two seven-storey buildings with commercial outlets. Commerce One, a seven-storey office block with a total built-up area o

  • Alba refinancing delayed

    Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has delayed a decision on the planned $700 million refinancing of the commercial and metals tranches of its 2002 fifth potline debt package. The postponement reflects changes under way in the company's ownership structure, which will see Manama's stake transferred to an overarching holding company for the majority of state shareholdings. Two groups of banks, led by BNP Paribas and Gulf International Bank, are bidding for the refinancing mandate, with several banks submit

  • Al-Bashir rejects criticism over Darfur

    Sudanese President Al-Bashir on 8 December accused the UN of making unreasonable demands on his government over Darfur. A day earlier, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticised Khartoum for failing to protect its citizens in the war-torn region. The Sudanese government 'may have to answer collectively and individually for what is happening in Darfur,' Annan said. Khartoum has denied backing Arab militias in an effort to crush an uprising started

  • Aldar and Laing join forces

    Local developer Aldar Properties has formed a joint venture (JV) contracting company with the UK's Laing O'Rourke.The venture has been set up primarily for Aldar's AED 54,000 million ($14,700 million) Al-Raha Beach project, but may be employed on other Aldar schemes. The value of construction work on the project is valued at over AED 7,000 million ($1,900 million) a year, of which over half will be delivered directly by the JV.'We have formed a true joint venture with Laing O

  • Aldar sukuk approved

    The shareholders in local real estate development company Aldar Properties have approved plans to issue sukuks up to a value of $3,500 million. The first paper is due to be marketed to investors in early 2007 (MEED 10:11:06).

  • Aldar unveils $40bn Yas island scheme

    Local developer Aldar Properties has unveiled Abu Dhabi's biggest real estate project to date. The AED 147,000 million ($40,000 million) Yas island development will be built on a natural island to the northeast of Aldar's Al-Raha Beach development (see above) and features a Ferrari theme park, a motorsports race track and three golf courses. Other attractions on the 25-square-kilometre island include a water park, a shopping centre, hotels, two marinas, polo clubs and residential buildings.

  • Alf Yad launches investment fund for boom industries

    Dubai-based Alf Yad venture capital fund intends to raise AED 1,000 million ($272 million) to invest in entrepreneurs across the Middle East. Alf Yad has launched the first of 10 funds with a target size of AED 100 million ($27 million) each.'We will invest across the board and focus on services related to sectors that have boomed, for example, real estate related services,' says Alf Yad chief executive officer Mohammed Sulaiman. 'Funds that are sector-specific find it challenging to fin

  • Algiers expands gas options

    Sonatrach on 11 December signed an agreement with Gaz de France (GdF) to supply 743,505 tonnes a year (t/y) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to France from 2010 via the regasification terminal at Montoir de Bretagne on the Atlantic coast. The previous day it completed the first delivery of 124,300 cubic metres of LNG to the Aliaga receiving terminal near Izmir on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, the second terminal in Turkey to be supplied with Algerian LNG.The deals are part of Algiers' poli

  • Algiers moves on tramway

    Plans for the construction of several tram systems across the country are moving ahead as the government seeks to regenerate a number of mid-sized cities. Entreprise du Metro d'Alger (EMA) is handling the various schemes.

  • Algiers seeks mine investment

    Algiers plans to launch in the new year 15 mining tenders in order to satisfy a domestic supply deficit of 440 million tonnes of granulate minerals, head of state mining resources company Agence Nationale du Patrimoine Minier (ANPM) Abdelkader Benyoub announced at the third international energy conference in Oran in late November.The projects will be launched at a conference to promote the country's mining sector to be held on 6 January. The tenders will cover the development of a range

  • All eyes on Abuja as prices hold steady

    Oil prices were steady around $61 a barrel in the second week of December, as the market awaited news from OPEC's 14 December meeting in Abuja. Market signals were mainly bullish, with US stocks falling and a report suggesting that producers failed to deliver on their previous cuts, announced in October. Spot Brent was trading at $61.33 a barrel on 13 December, marginally down on a week earlier.

  • Al-Maliki arrives for Amman talks

    Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrived for talks with US President Bush in Amman on 29 November. Hosted by Jordan's King Abdullah, the talks are expected to focus on curbing violence in Iraq. Ahead of the meeting, King Abdullah told the BBC Arabic Service that he is growing increasingly concerned over the situation in Iraq. 'We have warned on more than one occasion of the danger of turning a political dispute into a sectarian and religious conflict among the people o

  • Al-Nahda plans mall

    Local real estate developer Al-Nahda Real Estate & Trading is to carry out an estimated $1,1000 million (AED 4,000 million) expansion of its Sahara Centre shopping mall in Sharjah. The project will involve doubling the size of the existing shopping centre and the construction of seven towers ranging in height from 27 to 33 floors.

  • Al-Qaeda militants killed in Iraq, says US

    The US military said it had killed 20 suspected Al-Qaeda militants in the Thar Thar area of Salahuddin province on 8 December. However, Iraqi officials said civilians were killed in the air and ground attacks. In Jalameda village near Ishaqi, police said they found the bodies of 17 dead civilians, including six women and five children. Earlier, the mayor of Ishaqi said 32 people had been killed.The air strike was ordered after insurgents opened f

  • Al-Qaeda warns against Palestinian elections

    Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri has spoken out against early elections in the Palestinian Territories. 'Any road other than jihad will only lead to loss,' Al-Zawahiri said. 'Those trying to liberate the land of Islam through elections based on secular constitutions…will not liberate a grain of sand of Palestine.' The video was aired on Doha-based satellite television channel Al-Jazeera. Al-Zawihiri also said Al-Qaeda would con

  • Al-Qeblah talks draw to a close

    Kuwait's Munshaat Real Estate Projects Company has entered final negotiations with Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) to build a major residential projects in Medina. 'We have decided to negotiate with SBG, because they will be able to mobilise quickly and carry out the project on a fast-track basis,' says a source at Munshaat (MEED 3:11:06).

  • Al-Qudra targets Morocco

    UAE investment company Al-Qudra Holding signed in late November two memoradums of understanding (MoUs) for co-operation in the agriculture and real estate sectors as part of its plans to invest more than AED 10,000 million ($2,720 million) in the Moroccan economy. Formal agreements will be signed in early 2007, Al-Qudra general manager Ahmed Salah al-Yafei told MEED on 6 December.Al-Qudra subsidiary Al-Qudra Real Estate signed an agreement with the kingdom's largest real estate c

  • Al-Qudra unveils a raft of new projects

    The local Al-Qudra Real Estate has unveiled three new major mixed-use developments in Abu Dhabi emirate. It plans to build a series of towers alongside the Zayed bridge being built on the mainland side of the Maqta channel. The project involves the construction of 10-25-storey office, hotel and residential buildings, waterfront retail and a 100-storey office and residential tower. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2010. Canada's Norr Group is the consultant.At Mohammed bin

  • Al-Shall plans first Islamic bank

    Kuwait's Al-Shall Consulting & Investment Company is expected to receive final approval from the cabinet by the end of February to establish the country's first Islamic bank. To be called Al-Sham Bank, it will have capital of $100 million. Foreign shareholders, who will have a 49 per cent stake in the new bank, include Kuwait's Al-Dar Investment, Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Securities Group Kuwait and Al-Shall. 'Private Syrian investors have a 26 per cent stake and the remaining 25 per cent stake

  • Al-Sufouh tram plans reviewed

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority has appointed France's MVA Systra to conduct a feasibility study for the proposed tram system serving the Al-Sufouh area.The original scheme proposed by MVA Systra in 2005 involved a tram line running from the proposed Burj al-Arab station on Sheikh Zayed road, down Umm Suqeim road, along Al-Sufouh road, through Dubai Marina and connecting with Jumeirah Towers Station further up Sheikh Zayed road.The district houses the majority of the

  • Al-Suwaidi calls for credit bureau

    UAE Central Bank governor Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi has called for the establishment of a federal credit bureau. Speaking at the MEED Retail Banking conference on 26 November, Al-Suwaidi said: 'We need a federal entity to be responsible for credit bureau functions. This requires the implementation of a federal law and this has delayed the emergence of a credit bureau in the UAE.'Al-Suwaidi's comments came a day after launch of the UAE's first independent credit information company. Wi

  • ALTERNATIVES: Contracting methods: Contracting a la carte

    Lump-sum.

  • Al-Toukhi leads Jizan race

    The local Al-Toukhi Contracting is low bidder at SR 725 million ($193 million) for the contract to build the 300-MW Jizan power plant in the southwest. The client, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), is expected to award the contract early next year (MEED 17:11:06).

  • Amman advised to carry on cutting

    Economic growth in the kingdom will slow in 2007, the IMF said in the conclusions to its latest Article IV consultations. The fund urges Amman to work on tackling the current account deficit, attracting foreign direct investment and privatisation.

  • Amman cuts losses

    US company BTI Simmons is to carry out a feasibility study into reducing the transmission loss in the kingdom's power distribution lines. Work will start early next year. The reactive power compensation and transmission loss reduction project will aim to reduce fuel consumption, expand the kingdom's power systems and increase the efficiency of transmission operations. The study will be funded by a $158,000 grant from the US Trade & Development Agency; the client is state-owned National Electric

  • Ammonia tender in preparation

    A tender is due to be issued soon for the engineering, procurement and construction contract on the new Jubail ammonia plant planned by Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem).Prospective bidders for the 1,600-tonne-a-day facility include Italy's Snamprogetti, Switzerland's Ammonia Casale and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Toyo Engineering Corporation, both of Japan. Hydrogen and nitrogen feedstock for the ammonia facility will be sourced from Sipchem's first-phase butanedio

  • An American policy vacuum becomes a black hole

    Not since South Vietnam and Cambodia fell to communism in 1975 has the world witnessed a more comprehensive US foreign policy failure than the disaster enveloping its demoralised troops in Iraq.

  • Appraisal gets go-ahead

    BG Oman will start an appraisal programme for the block 60 oil concession in early 2007. The company will start acquiring seismic data in January in advance of drilling in mid-2007. BG Oman signed an exploration and production sharing agreement with the government in April for the concession, which covers almost 1,500 square kilometres.

  • Arabtec makes a bid to acquire Dubai Contracting

    The local Arabtec Holding plans to acquire the local Dubai Contracting Company (DCC). The acquisition of DCC will complement Arabtec's existing business, expand its current market share in the UAE and allow the company to gain access to additional market segments. DCC completed projects valued at more than AED 2,7000 million ($735 million) between 2000 and 2005.DCC's management is expected to be locked into the company for at least two years after the completion of the acquisition. Shuaa

  • Arabtec signs Al-Waab deal

    The local Nasser bin Khalid & Sons Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with UAE-based Arabtec Construction for the main construction contract for the Al-Waab City development on the outskirts of Doha. The package, which is estimated to be worth about QR 5,000 million ($1,374 million), will be the largest civil contract ever awarded in Qatar.The contract involves the construction of a central plaza, an 11-storey hotel, 639 villas, seven-storey apartment buildings, 88,000 sq

  • Aramco finds new gas

    Petroleum & Mineral Resources Minister Ali Naimi announced on 27 November the discovery of a new gas field in the Eastern Province. The discovery is located about 30 kilometres south of the onshore Ghawar field. Initial flows were reported at 60 million cubic feet a day (cf/d), according to tests carried out by Saudi Aramco at the Nijaiman 1 well. 'Preliminary tests estimate permanent production capacity to be well over this [60 million cf/d],' the official Saudi Press Agency quoted Naimi as say

  • Aramco reveals plans to boost heavy crude production

    Saudi Arabia is to make a strategic shift towards heavy crude production in response to growing global demand for heavy crude.

  • Asad, Erdogan hold talks

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Damascus on 6 December for talks with Syrian President Asad. The pair discussed the war in Iraq and growing tensions in Lebanon. This is Erdogan's second diplomatic initiative in the region in four days following a visit to Tehran. A day earlier, new US Defence Secretary Robert Gates praised Turkey's role as a constructive partner in the Middle East. 'The Turks have offered us a lot in both Central Asia and the Middle

  • Athar wins residential job

    The local Athar Construction & Development Company has been awarded the estimated QR 283 million ($77 million) construction contract on the Lavender Village development. The 24-month residential project will be built on a 65,000-square-metre area in front of the Gharrafa Sports Club.

  • AUTOMOTIVE ASSEMBLY: The trucks stop here

    The huge railway schemes under development in the kingdom have stolen the thunder of the road haulage industry, but long-distance trucks still keep the heart of the Saudi economy ticking. And plans are afoot in the automotive industry to ensure it stays that way.

  • Award nears for Jeddah airport desal

    The General Aviation Civil Authority (GACA) is set to award the build-operate-transfer (BOT) concession to develop a desalination plant at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah. A consortium of the UK's Aquatech with Italy's WTD and local firms Sete and Haji Abdullah Alireza & Company is the frontrunner after technical and commercial prices were opened in early December (MEED 3:11:06).

  • Award nears for merger

    HSBC is the frontrunner for the financial advisory mandate on the planned merger of Oman Refinery Company and Sohar Refinery Company and the refinancing of their combined debt. The outstanding borrowings of about $1,400 million will be restructured along more corporate lines, reflecting the commissioning of the Sohar refinery earlier this year. Three banks were competing for the mandate (MEED 17:11:06).

  • Award nears on Safra aromatics

    An award is due soon on theestimated $400 million contract to build the second-phase aromatics plant in Yanbu, planned by the local Safra Company.

  • Baghdad blast kills dozens

    At least 60 people were killed and 220 were wounded after a suicide bomber detonated a truck laden with explosives in a square in central Baghdad. The attacker targeted crowds of Shia labourers who approached his car seeking work. Labourers have been targeted in Tayaran square before. The bombing came as US President Bush was due to review his policy in Iraq in a videoconference with US military commanders in the country. Lieutenant General Peter

  • Baghdad blasts leave 17 dead

    Iraqi police said on 28 December that at least 17 people had been killed in explosions across Baghdad. The worst attack, in which a car bomb was detonated at a petrol station near the Al-Shaab stadium in the centre of the city, left 10 dead and 25 injured. Two roadside bombs, also in central Baghdad, killed at least seven people. More than 30 people were understood to have been injured in the twin attacks. The attacks come one day after three US soldiers were killed in planned

  • Baghdad explosion kills 10

    At least 10 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt outside a police academy in Baghdad on 21 December. The academy has been attacked several times in the past. Iraqi police also said 76 bodies had been uncovered across the capital.The Pentagon has said insurgent attacks on troops and civilians have risen to unprecedented levels. Shia leaders on 21 December converged on Najaf for talks with Iraq's most senior Shia cle

  • Bahrain names a Shia for deputy PM

    Bahrain has appointed its first Shia deputy prime minister. Jawad Oraied, a former minister, was announced on 12 December as one of the three deputies to Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa, Bahrain's premier since independence in 1971. The other deputies are members of the royal family. In the recent parliamentary elections, Al-Wefaq, the main Shia opposition group, won 19 of the 40 seats. However, only one of the party's supporters has been appointed to Bahrain's 24-member cabinet.

  • Bahraini cleric dies

    Senior Shia cleric Abdul Amir al-Jamri died on 18 December at the age of 69. Al-Jamri led pro-democracy protests in the 1990s, calling for the restoration of an elected parliament and more equitable distribution of economic resources. Earlier in December, Jawad Oraeid was appointed as Bahrain's first Shia deputy prime minister after his Al-Wefaq party won 17 of the 40 seats in the country's parliamentary elections on 25 November. However, the par

  • Bandar Abbas refinery set for petrol capacity boost

    National Iranian Oil Engineering Company (NIOEC) has signed a $400 million contract with a consortium led by the local Petrochemical Industries Design & Engineering Company (PIDEC) to increase petrol production capacity at Bandar Abbas refinery. The project will increase output to 13 million litres a day and is part of a scheme to bring Iran's petrol production up to capacity by 2010 (MEED 4:8:06).

  • BANKING & FINANCE: Paying off

    The imposing faade of the Central Bank of Syria dominates the view of Place du 17 Avril the square in central Damascus named after the date of independence from the French mandate in 1946. In a nearby side street are the new offices of two of the latest private banks. Although small in size, they are set to play a vital role in the country's economic development.

  • Bapco readies lube plant

    A joint venture (JV) of Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) and Finland's Neste is drawing up a request for proposals for the engineering, procurement and construction contract on a grasroots lube base oil refinery. An invitation to bid is planned during the first quarter.

  • Bashir rejects UN force again

    Sudanese President Al-Bashir on 28 November rejected plans for African Union (AU) and UN forces to form a joint peacekeeping mission in Darfur, saying that African troops would remain under AU leadership. Bashir said he would only allow logistical and financial support from the UN. Bashir insisted that the crisis in Darfur is an illusion created by the media. 'We do not say that there is no problem and that there are refugees and displaced, but any talk of a humanitarian c

  • Beirut presses ahead with mobile licence tender plans

    The Telecoms Ministry says it is still working towards the launch of a tender for two GSM mobile phone licences, set for early 2007. The decision to press ahead comes despite the continuing political tensions in the country, which have had a knock-on effect on the telecoms sector.

  • Beirut steps up security after protester shot

    More Lebanese troops were deployed in the streets of Beirut on 4 December, a day after a protester was shot dead in the Sunni Muslim district of Qasqas. Thousands of pro-Syrian demonstrators have camped in central Beirut for three nights, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, visited Beirut in an effort to mediate between the rival factions. The UAE, Bahrain and Tunisia have also offered to help.

  • BG set to divest assets

    The UK's BG is understood to be selling its assets in Mauritania, including a 10.2 per cent stake in the Chinguetti field, where reservoir and technical problems have left oil production languishing at about 30,000 barrels a day (b/d), compared with the planned 75,000 b/d. BG acquired Mauritania Holdings, a subsidiary of Australia's Hardman Resources, in February 2004 for $132 million. US investment bank Jefferies is understood to be auctioning the portfolio (MEED 15:9:06).

  • Bidders line up for King Abdullah Economic City

    Emaar The Economic City is evaluating proposals from six companies for the first two major construction packages on its $50,000 million King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) development at Rabigh, on the Red Sea (MEED 24.11:06).The contracts, worth in total about SR 1,000 million ($272 million), cover construction work on the Red Sea village district. The bidders are Al-Saad General Contracting Company, Saudi Oger, Saudi Binladin Group, Saudi Freyssinet and Rafic A Kreidie, all local, and F

  • Bids come in for Arabian Canal

    Local developer Nakheel has received bids for the first phase of its Arabian Canal project, to dig a canal leading inland from Dubai Waterfront to the Dubai bypass and on to the Gulf.

  • Bids in for Abu Dhabi Landmark

    The Department of President's Affairs has received bids from five contracting groups for the main construction package on the Landmark tower project in Abu Dhabi. The mixed-use tower will be the tallest on Abu Dhabi island with a height of 329 metres (MEED 17:11:06).

  • Bids in for Ruwais sulphur

    Two groups of companies submitted commercial bids on 25 November for the main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract covering the phase 3 expansion of the Ruwais sulphur handling terminal (RSHT) in Abu Dhabi emirate. They are: a local/US team of Al-Jaber Energy Services and Washington Group International (WGI); and the local Dodsal, with Mustang Engineering of the US. The project is being handled by Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer MEED 22:9:06).Estimated to

  • Bids in for township work

    The local Ghassan Ahmad al-Khaled & Company is low bidder at KD 33.1 million ($114 million) for a contract to build 443 villas and associated infrastructure at the Saad al-Abdullah township on the outskirts of Kuwait City. Ghassan al-Khaled's bid is marginally lower than the next best price of KD 33.7 million ($116 million) submitted by the local Combined Group. Kuwait Company for Process Plant Construction & Contracting is ranked third on price at KD 38.7 million ($133 million). The cli

  • Binladin leads on north-south line

    Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) is low bidder for the first three major packages on the proposed 2,400-kilometre-long north-south railway project. The client, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is planning to award the contracts, totalling an estimated SR 7,000 million ($1,863 million), by the end of the year.

  • Bisotoon boosts capacity

    Iran Power Development Company (IPDC) has issued a tender for 650 MW of new capacity at the Bisotoon power plant in western Iran (MEED 1:12:06).

  • Blair challenges influence of Iran

    UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on 20 December called for moderate forces to unite in challenging the influence of Iran within the Middle East. Speaking to business leaders in Dubai on the last leg of his tour of the region, Blair said greater awareness was needed of the struggle between moderation and extremism, which would form the key challenge of the 21st century. In particular, he focused on the threat posed by Iran in its opposition to moderat

  • Borouge moves on Ruwais offsites and utilities

    The multi-billion-dollar expansion of the Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) complex in Ruwais has taken another step forward, with the submission of bids for the offsites and utilities (O&U) contract and the issue of invitation to bid documents for what will be the world's largest olefins conversion unit (OCU).Four technical bids have been submitted for the estimated $1,200 million O&U contract. They are: Bechtel and Fluor Corporation, both of the US, Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas and a t

  • Bourse stays the course

    Palestinian markets are used to adversity. The Al-Quds Index rises with every political sign of hope and falls with every disappointment. 'The political situation is already factored into prices,' says Yaser Nimr, senior analyst at the Jordan-based Atlas Investment.

  • Bourses share listings

    The Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM) and the Muscat Securities Market signed a cross-listings agreement in early December. The agreement will facilitate the process by which companies list shares on both bourses. Oman & Emirates Company will be the first Omani company to list on the ADSM.

  • BP out in front for tight gas development

    The UK's BP is the frontrunner for the tight gas contract in the sultanate.Three companies have been shortlisted by the Ministry of Oil & Gas (MoG) for the upstream development and production agreement, with the others being Norway's Statoil and Eni of Italy. A production sharing agreement is due to be signed by mid-December (MEED 22:9:06).The long-term agreement will entail the development of gas reserves in the central Khazzan and Makarem fields. Both fields are estimated to co

  • BP scoops tight gas deal

    The UK's BP has signed a long-term production sharing agreement with the Ministry of Oil & Gas (MOG) for the exploration and production of tight gas in the sultanate.

  • Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death

    A Libyan court has sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death after they were found guilty of deliberately infecting 426 children with HIV in the late 1990s. More than 50 of the infected children have since died.Many of the children's parents expressed happiness at the verdict. The defendants' lawyers are expected to appeal against the sentence. 'The verdicts will change nothing,' the Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Alhajouj tol

  • Bullish OPEC comments have desired effect on market

    Oil prices rose above the $60-a-barrel mark in late November. Riyadh added its voice to a particularly prolonged and intense debate ahead of the forthcoming OPEC meeting, while the dramatically weakening dollar led to fears that it could be used as a justification for a production cut. Spot Brent was trading at $62.40 a barrel on 29 November, up from $59.90 a barrel a week earlier.

  • Bumimetro plans towers

    Malaysia's Bumimetro Construction has been awarded the main construction package on the estimated AED 500 million ($109 million) Rainbow Towers project in Umm al-Qaiwain. The project involves the construction of seven residential towers. The local Eronat Engineering Consultancy is the consultant. UK-based FuGen is the client.

  • Bush must accept whole Iraq plan

    The Iraq Study Group (ISG) has said US President Bush must accept the plan they have created for Iraq in its entirety, saying it is not a 'fruit salad' for the administration to pick and choose from, but a comprehensive strategy. Bush has already rejected unconditional talks with Iran and Syria, a key recommendation by the ISG panel. 'The truth of the matter is that these countries have now got the choice to make,' Bush said. 'If they want to sit down at the table with the US,

  • Bush pledges to keep troops in Iraq

    US President Bush on 30 November vowed he would keep troops in Iraq until 'the job is done'. Speaking after a summit with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Amman, he stressed the importance of speeding up the training of Iraqi security forces.Bush said he agreed with the prime minister that any division of Iraq would increase violence. 'The prime minister made clear that splitting his country into parts is not what the Iraqi people want and that any partition of Ira

  • Cable & Wireless sells off Batelco

    The UK's Cable & Wireless (C&W) has sold its stake in Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) to the government for $506.1 million. Completion of the deal is due in January.C&W's 20 per cent stake will be divided equally between Batelco's three existing government-affiliated owners Mumtalakat Holding Company, the General Organisation for Social Insurance and the Pension Fund Commission. C&W was one of Batelco's founding partners in 1981. The government now owns about 75 per cent of

  • Cable contract awarded

    Saudi Cable Company has won a $123 million contract to supply electrical cables for phase 7 of the Qatar transmission programme. Germany's Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution (PTD) won an order in November worth more than Eur 700 million ($920 million) to supply and install substations as part of the programme (MEED 1:12:06).

  • Cairo awards gas licences

    Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) has awarded eight new licences to local and international oil companies (IOCs) to search for gas in the Nile Delta, Northern Sinai and Mediterranean.

  • Cairo rounds up Brotherhood members

    Egyptian police have arrested Khairat al-Shatir, one of the leaders of the opposition Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement. Al-Shatir is one of two deputies to Mohammed Akef, the Brotherhood leader. The group said 180 students and 13 others were also detained. 'This round of arrests is a government reaction to a year of strong performance by the group in parliament, in advocating for reforms and in their opposition to the succession of power,' sa

  • Canadians plan Jeddah

    The Transport Ministry has selected Canada's IBI Group to carry out an integrated public transport masterplan for Jeddah. The 14-month study covers design of a public transport network, provision of technology systems and detailed demand forecasts for the next 25 years. The masterplan will be based on the population increasing to 5 million from 2.2 million.

  • Capital markets: Stock options

    The initial public offering (IPO) of shares in Saudi Arabian flooring company Al-Abdullatif Industrial Investment Company, which closed on 18 December was a far cry from the multiple oversubscriptions of the GCC stock market boom era. Despite being 1.6 times oversubscribed, the flotation fell short of the two-to-three times coverage typically needed to guarantee a soaring share price on its listing debut.

  • Capital Markets: Winning the business

    Every international financial centre needs an international stock exchange. The Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) was born of grand ambitions, set up to meet international regulatory standards to attract global companies. The new exchange was intended to be a beacon for international listings in the region.

  • Cegco award looms

    The Executive Privatisation Commission is to select a buyer for a 51 per cent stake in Central Electricity Generating Company (Cegco) in early 2007. Bidders include Amman-based JD Capital, Dubai-based Abraaj Capital and Kuwait's Kharafi National. The sale is the first step in the privatisation of the kingdom's energy sector (MEED 27:10:06).

  • Chinese boost gas exploration

    The Chinese/local joint venture exploring for gas in the North Rub al-Khali (Empty Quarter) is to drill two additional wells by the end of the year.Al-Khobar-based Sino Saudi Gas (SSGL) will start drilling on the new wells by late December in its contract area in the Empty Quarter, as part of its project to explore and develop non-associated gas reserves in the southeast of the kingdom.To be called Atnab 1 and Faras 1, the wells will be drilled to targeted depths of 17,00

  • Chinese negotiate for condensates plant

    A Chinese-led consortium is negotiating an open-book contract to build the Bandar Abbas condensates refinery. The National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company (NIORDC) project is estimated to be worth more than $2,000 million (MEED 13:10:06).

  • Clashes erupt in Gaza

    Fighting erupted between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip on 12 December. Four people were wounded in the gunfire exchange. The clashes broke out at a demonstration against growing anarchy in the town of Khan Younis. Witnesses said Hamas police militias fired shots at protestors throwing stones. Fatah security forces then joined the skirmish. The incident comes one day after the three children of a Fatah security chief

  • Clerics should act to stop militant ideology, says Saudi

    Saudi Arabia's clerics must combat militant ideology among the country's youth, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz says. 'All our clerics must act, because it is their role to correct the convictions in the minds of youth everywhere - and to be constructive and not instruments of destruction,' Prince Nayef said on state television. 'Unfortunately, hostile forces have managed to infiltrate some Muslim ranks and mobilise them to do acts against Muslims, and this is regrettable.'

  • Coke is it

    There are many places you might expect to see a coal-fired power station, but the Middle East is not one of them. This is oil country. More than 40 per cent of the earth's known reserves of crude sit under the Arabian desert, along with one quarter of the world's natural gas deposits. These days, that gas fuels a sizeable proportion of the world's power generation needs. Along the Gulf coast, multi-billion-dollar liquefaction plants are being built to bottle and ship it to the fuel-hungry eco

  • College bid awaits award

    The Central Tenders Committee has approved the bid by the local United Gulf Construction Company (UGCC) for the contract to build the college of basic education for girls at the Ardiya campus. The client is the Public Authority for Applied Education & Training (PAAET MEED 27:10:06).

  • COMMODITIES: Sold on gold

    Gold came back into fashion this year in a big way. Jittery Gulf investors, worried about Iraq and Iran, unimpressed with regional bourses and uninspiring bonds, once again felt drawn to commodities and gold was the hedge of choice. The rush for the commodity pushed up prices in early 2006 and in May it topped $706 an ounce its highest nominal price since 1980 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. An enthusiasm for gold is nothing new for Saudi Arabia. The kingdom's passion for the precious

  • Commodities: Trading the future

    Another birthday is being celebrated in Dubai as the emirate reflects on its first year as a fully fledged international financial centre. Hot on the heels of the first anniversary of the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX), the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) has entered its second year of operations.

  • Companies would change the way they went public

    Eighty per cent of companies that staged initial public offerings (IPOs) in the region say they would do things differently if they were to do it again, research by KPMG has found.

  • Compressor bidders picked

    Two groups of companies have been prequalified to submit bids by 2007 to Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco) for the combined front-end engineering and design and engineering, procurement and construction contract to install new gas compressors at the Bab field. They are: Austria's ILF Consulting Engineers, with Germany's Siemens; and Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Company, with Paris-based Technip (MEED 28:4:06).

  • Conference centre offered

    The Royal Protocol has invited contractors to submit bids by 20 December to build a major conference centre in Jeddah. The project calls for the construction of a new facility with a built-up area of 150,000 square metres. The scope includes extensive renovation of the existing palace and construction of a presidential guesthouse. The consultant is the local Saudi Diyar Consultants.

  • Conflict damage revealed

    The recent conflict between Hezbollah and Tel Aviv will continue to have a negative impact on the Lebanese economy for years to come, says a report on the reconstruction process by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.The government report forecasts that GDP will fall by 4-5 per cent in 2006 compared with the previous year.The report says a loss to public finances of about $1,600 million by the end of the year will come from $920 million in lost revenue and an incre

  • Consultant dearth threatens Jeddah airport progress

    Uncertainty surrounds the redevelopment of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah after only one firm submitted proposals for the contract to provide project and construction management (PCM) services. The scheme is seen as vital for increasing business traffic to the Red Sea and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina (MEED 22:9:06).

  • Consultants vie for metro

    Plans for the construction of Damascus' first metro line are moving ahead after the Governorate of Damascus and the Municipalities Ministry shortlisted six firms for the consultancy contract. The study will be funded by the European Investment Bank (MEED 19:12:03).

  • CONSUMER LENDING: Lending with confidence

    In the competition for customers, knowing their preferences is key. In the quest for profits, knowing their credit history is even more important. For retail bank customers in the Gulf, getting credit is easy, but for banks, keeping track of peoples' debts has not been so straightforward.

  • Corecap enters market

    A new local investment and advisory firm, Corecap, has been launched. It will target institutional and high net-worth individuals. The company's shareholders include former Qatari economy and commerce minister Sheikh Mohamed al-Thani, Bank Sarasin-Alpen chief executive officer Rohit Walia and local investment management firm Corepartners.

  • CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: Setting standards

    Sobhi Batterjee stands at the podium and throws his hands in the air, feigning his last breath. 'The new chief executive is Abdullah!' he gasps. The conference hall erupts into laughter. Batterjee's face is deadpan. 'This is not the way to decide on succession,' he warns.

  • Credit risk bureaus: Providing credit where credit is due

    After years of talk, the UAE finally has a new credit bureau. The launch of Emcredit, a new credit information company based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), will go some way to plugging the information gap and provide banks with a firmer basis on which to make their lending decisions.

  • Creek contract awarded

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has awarded the consultancy contract to the US/UK joint venture of Parsons International and Halcrow Group for the extension of the creek from Business Bay to the Gulf. The project is expected to be one of the most challenging in Dubai as it will cross three of the emirate's main road corridors and a major residential area (MEED 13:10:06).

  • Daewoo to build two plants

    General Electric Company of Libya (Gecol) is in final negotiations with South Korea's Daewoo Engineering & Construction over the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for two identical 750-MW gas-fired combined cycle power stations at Misurata and Benghazi. The contracts are worth a combined $787 million $421 million for the Misurata plant and $366 million for the Benghazi plant. Construction on both plants is due to begin next month and end in 2010.

  • Daewoo to build two plants

    General Electric Company of Libya (Gecol) is in final negotiations with South Korea's Daewoo Engineering & Construction over the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for two identical 750-MW gas-fired combined cycle power stations at Misurata and Benghazi. The contracts are worth a combined $787 million $421 million for the Misurata plant and $366 million for the Benghazi plant. Construction on both plants is due to begin next month and end in 2010.

  • Damac unveils mini-city

    UAE-based Damac Properties has unveiled plans for a $16,300 million mini-city development in Gamsha Bay, 60 kilometres north of Hurghada.The Gamsha Bay development is divided into nine zones and will include marinas, a golf course, a water and extreme sports theme park, cinemas, shops, a commercial district and 50,000 residential units over 39 kilometres of coastline that includes 25 kilometres of beaches. UK-based Halcrow completed the initial masterplan for the 30-square-k

  • Damascus licenses first Islamic banks

    The cabinet on 5 September issued two licences for the country's first Islamic banks. The first licence was issued to Al-Sham Bank, which has a capital of $100 million. Foreign shareholders have a 49 per cent stake in the new bank, including Al-Shall Consulting & Investment Company and Al-Dar Investment, both of Kuwait, Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Securities Group Kuwait and Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank. Private Syrian investors hold a 26 per cent stake. Al-Sham plans to launch a publ

  • Damascus licenses first Islamic banks

    The cabinet on 5 September issued two licences for the country's first Islamic banks. The first licence was issued to Al-Sham Bank, which has a capital of $100 million. Foreign shareholders have a 49 per cent stake in the new bank, including Al-Shall Consulting & Investment Company and Al-Dar Investment, both of Kuwait, Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Securities Group Kuwait and Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank. Private Syrian investors hold a 26 per cent stake. Al-Sham plans to launch a pub

  • Damascus plans bid round

    The Petroleum & Mineral Resources Ministry has announced its intention to launch in early 2007 its first offshore licensing bid round. Three offshore blocks will be on offer to international oil companies.The offshore round covers 5,000 square kilometres off the Mediterranean coast. Norway's Wavefield Inseis completed a 2D seismic study for Syrian Petroleum Company in May. Sagex, also of Norway, is assisting the ministry in preparing the bid round (MEED 26:5:06).The ministry wi

  • Damascus to issue t-bills

    Damascus will issue treasury bills (t-bills) for the first time by the end of 2006, Central Bank of Syria governor Adib Mayaleh told MEED on 17 May in Damascus. 'We are working with the Finance Ministry to issue the first treasury bills, but we have not yet decided whether they will be six-month or one-year Syrian pound treasury bills,' said Mayaleh. 'There is a committee still studying this but a decision to issue the bills by the end of the year has been taken.'Plans to introduce a flo

  • Dar al-Handasah takes rail consultancy work

    Beirut-based Dar al-Handasah (Shair & Partners) has been awarded a consultancy contract for two new rail lines in the south of the country. The feasibility study will centre on new tracks linking Jeddah with Jizan and Taif with Khamis Mushayt. Saudi Railways Organisation is the client.

  • DCC follows Kipco into Al-Abdali

    Dubai Contracting Company (DCC) has signed a contract with Abdali Development & Investment Company (ADIC) to develop five residential and commercial real estate projects in the Al-Abdali district of Amman. To be built over a 54,000-square-metre area, the projects will involve the construction of a 125-metre-high, 35-storey residential tower, two six-storey office buildings and two six-seven-storey residential towers with commercial outlets. DCC is the main contractor and developer. The architect

  • DEEP DRILLING: The cost of drilling deeper

    If some energy analysts in the US are to be believed, global oil production has already reached its peak and the industry is entering a long period of terminal decline. But reports of the death of the Age of Oil are premature. Plenty of gas and crude is left underground - and even above ground, if oil sands are taken into consideration. But to find it, prospectors are having to search further and deeper than before. And as in the last great oil boom of the 1970s, high prices are driving oil c

  • Defence chiefs recommend shift in Iraq

    The US Joint Chiefs of Staff have recommended a change in strategy on Iraq, the Washington Post reported on 14 December. Sources close to Washington's review of policy on Iraq told the newspaper that the leading defence officials are calling for a shift from a combat role for US forces to supporting Iraqi troops. The joint chiefs of staff briefed President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney at the Pentagon a day earlier. According to sources clo

  • Demonstrators flood streets of Beirut

    Tens of thousands of demonstrators on 1 December took to the streets of Beirut demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government. The protestors were supporters of Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies. Armoured vehicles and troops have taken up positions in central Beirut to defend government buildings. A day earlier, Siniora vowed he would not succumb to pressure from the opposition. 'Lebanon's independence is threatened and its democratic system is in

  • Deutsche Bank launches Islamic metals fund

    Deutsche Bank has launched the Noor Precious Metals Securities Fund, which it claims is the first sharia-compliant mutual fund to invest in precious metals securities. The fund will include Dubai International Financial Exchange-listed South African gold mining company Gold Fields in its portfolio. It is one of five Islamic mutual funds launched by Deutsche Bank and will initially target investors in Bahrain and the UAE before being marketed globally. The bank has identified a pool of 7,000 shar

  • Developer seeks interest

    Aldar Laing O'Rourke has invited companies to express their interest in prequalifying for construction work on the $14,700 million Al-Raha Beach development in Abu Dhabi. The required disciplines are: civil engineering, building construction, building services installations, utility installations, infrastructure, and landscape construction. Aldar Laing O'Rourke is a joint venture of local developer Aldar Properties and the UK's Laing O'Rourke (MEED 1:12:06).

  • DFM: Market to market

    Amid the investor hue and cry sparked by the regional stock market correction, the first Arab stock exchange to go public launched its initial public offering (IPO). Undeterred by the tumbling share prices and plummeting investor confidence evident on its own trading floor, the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) floated 20 per cent of its shares in November. The retail tranche of the AED 1,600 million ($436 million) offering was 300 times oversubscribed a flashback to the IPOs of the boom era.

  • Difficult Iraq choices ahead, says Bush

    US President Bush on 20 December said the ongoing conflict in Iraq will require 'difficult choices and additional sacrifices' in the year ahead. 'My administration will work with Republicans and Democrats to fashion a new way forward in Iraq,' Bush told a news conference in Washington. A new strategy could include a temporary rise in the number of US force in the country. 'We are looking at all options and that includes increasing more troops,' B

  • Diplomat tower planned

    The local Al-Safar Group has appointed Abu Dhabi-based Syrconsult as lead architect on its Diplomat Trade Centre development. The estimated $26 million project involves the construction of a 20-storey commercial tower in the diplomatic area of Manama.

  • Disi in further extension

    The Water Ministry has extended until 14 December the deadline for proposals for the 25-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract to supply Amman with water from Disi Mudawarra to the east of the capital. Six groups are prequalified to submit bids for the estimated $600 million project, which involves the extraction of water from an aquifier in the Disi-Mudawarra area and the construction of a 325-kilometre pipeline to transport 11 million cubic metres a year to the capital. UK-based Brown & Ro

  • Doha fills out stadium plan

    The government is pushing ahead with a further expansion of its sporting infrastructure, as it looks to build on the success of the Doha Asian Games with a new stadium.

  • Doha mulls joint venture

    Qatar Petroleum (QP) has revived plans to set up an engineering joint venture with an international company. The state-owned oil and gas company has approached at least 10 international companies to gauge their interest in the venture and is expected to hold further meetings with interested parties over the coming two months. Initially, the planned venture is expected to carry out engineering work for QP projects.

  • Dozens killed in Baghdad attacks

    At least 36 people were killed in shootings, mortar and car bomb attacks on 5 December, Iraqi officials said. In northern Baghdad, at least 15 people were killed and several wounded by gunmen who attacked a bus carrying civilian employees of a Shia religious group.Later, three car bombs near a petrol station in a religiously mixed district in the south of the capital left at least 15 people dead and 25 wounded. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for rival

  • Dubai aims for the Reds

    Dubai International Capital (DIC) has confirmed that it has entered into negotiations over investing in the UK's Liverpool Football Club. The details of any transaction are still to be finalised. DIC was expected to begin due diligence at the end of last week.

  • Dubai banks on tour in Europe and Asia

    Roadshows are under way in Europe and Asia for the first issue of subordinated debt by Emirates Bank. Credit Suisse First Boston and HSBC are the lead managers.

  • Dubai extends Jebel Ali sewage treatment deadline

    Dubai Municipality has extended to 21 January the bid closing date for the contract to build its grassroots Jebel Ali sewage treatment plant. Thirteen groups are prequalified for the 300,000-cubic-metre-a-day plant, which will be located to the south of the Jebel Ali-Lahbab road.

  • Dubai Financial Market makes successful debut

    The initial public offering (IPO) of shares in the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) closed in late November massively oversubscribed. The AED 1,600 million ($4,36 million) IPO raised AED 190,000 million ($51,727 million) and was staged despite the ongoing correction that has seen the DFM index drop by two thirds since the beginning of the year to 345 points.The DFM is the first Arab bourse to go public and shares are expected to list on the bourse in January. 'The IPO was popular with instit

  • Dubai launches steel futures/b>

    The world's first steel futures contract to be internationally traded is to be launched on the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) at the start of 2007. The 10-tonne steel reinforcement bar (rebar) contract will be followed by a steel billet futures contract. The year-old commodities exchange also plans to launch a gold options contract in early 2007, followed by gasoline, copper and pulses futures contracts. The new contracts would double the number of derivatives on the exchange.

  • Dubai moves on M station

    Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) has decided to proceed with bid evaluation on the estimated $1,700 million Jebel Ali M station project, despite receiving bids from only three contractors for the two packages on offer. 'There will be no new retender,' says a source close to the project. The retender attracted one new bidder, with South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company joining the original list of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, also Korean, and Italy's Fisia I

  • Dubai Ports sells US assets

    DP World subsidiary P&O Holdings has agreed to sell P&O Ports North America (Popna) to a subsidiary of AIG Global Investment Group for an undisclosed sum.DP World said earlier in the year that its American assets were worth about $700 million, although US press reports suggest that AIG has paid close to $1,000 million. Popna's operations principally comprise marine terminal concessions in the ports of New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, Tampa Bay and New Orleans,

  • Dubai projects unveiled

    Local property developers have launched a raft of real estate projects in Dubai.

  • Duqm work under bid

    Three companies have submitted prices for the project management services contract on the Duqm development. Tokyo-based Pacific Consultants International is low bidder, followed by the US' Parsons Brinckerhoff and Beirut-based Dar al-Handasah (Shair & Partners). The 36-month contract covers preparation of a masterplan for the development, which includes a port, dry dock, airport, petrochemicals area and industrial zone, as well as areas for downstream industries, and tourism, commercial and resi

  • Dutch dig in at the Prism

    Local developer Credo Investments has awarded the local Dutch Foundation the enabling works contract on its AED 500 million ($136 million) Prism tower. The project involves the construction of a 35-storey office tower. The local Hamilton is the project manager (MEED 27:10:06).

  • Dutch reject Hollandi offer

    ABN Amro has eliminated National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) from the bidding process for the Dutch bank's stake in Saudi Hollandi Bank (SHB). Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) is the frontrunner to acquire the 40 per cent holding (MEED 17:11:06).NBK's offer was rejected because its indicative price was considered too low. SCB, which has been in negotiations for the stake for several months, is now understood to be closing in on the deal, which would form part of the bank's strategy of aggressive e

  • East Yidma yields oil

    Germany's RWE Dea and Croatia-based INA-Naftaplin have announced a successful test of exploration well Sidi Rahman-1X in the East Yidma concession in the Western Desert.The Sidi Rahman-1X was drilled to a total depth of 4,380 metres and oil was found at two points. Initially, the well tested at 3,200 barrels a day (b/d) and 970,000 cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas. The second test showed a flow rate of 1,314 b/d of oil.

  • ECONOMIC CITIES: A thirst for knowledge

    The kingdom's economic diversification programme is being led by the launch of six economic cities each catering to a specific business sector. The aim of the cities is to drive business in a bid to resolve the kingdom's growing unemployment problem running at between 12-20 per cent of the population. 'It has been an unbelievable response over the past 12 months,' says a senior Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) official. 'So much so that we are now receiving proposals from pri

  • Economist warns profitability slide set to continue

    Growth in the profitability of the kingdom's banks will slow in 2006 and drop further in 2007, The National Commercial Bank (NCB) chief economist Said al-shaikh has warned. The profits slowdown is primarily due to a fall in brokerage fee earnings as a result of the correction in the stock market.'The greatest impact of the stock market [fall] is on bank profitability,' says al-shaikh.Brokerage fees accounted for 30-35 per cent of bank profits in 2

  • Economy: Driving development

    The breakneck growth of the UAE continues to attract attention, but the headlines are no longer dominated by extravagant real estate projects or high-profile foreign acquisitions. Of far greater interest these days are lasting developments such as the evolution of the local financial industry and capital markets.

  • ECONOMY: The view from the hill

    When the Saudi central bank published its annual economic report in mid-November, no one expected to be told a tale of penury. Nevertheless, the story told by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama) still makes for striking reading. Nominal GDP soared by 24 per cent last year, the current account registered a massive surplus and miraculously inflation remained low (see table 2).

  • EGYPT

    Supply of steam generators and auxiliaries as part of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company's Cairo West thermal power plant. The plant will consist of two steam generators and two 350-MW steam turbine generators and condensers (units 7 and 8, and two 350-MW gas/oil-fired units). The scope of works includes, but is not limited to, furnishing all plant, labour, technical and professional services, construction equipment, technical assistance on-site and training and to perform all operations n

  • EGYPT

    Tender no 9/Goods/WB/ICB/2006. Project no P045175. Supply, transport, installation and setting up of the following intensive care unit (ICU) medical equipment as part of the health sector reform programme: 1) 24 ICU ventilators; 2) 20 infusion pumps; 3) 10 mobile x-rays; and 4) six blood gas analysers. Financed by the International Development Association. Bid bonds are £E 65,000 for lot 1, £E 3,000 for lot 2, £E 27,000 for lot 3 and £E 7,000 for lot 4.Details on payment of £E 50

  • EGYPT

    Carrying out the combustion turbine generators package for the Sidi Krier and El-Atf 750-MW combined cycle power station projects for the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company. The projects consist of two 250-MW combustion turbine generators, two heat recovery steam generators and one 250-MW steam turbine generator and condenser. The scope of works includes, but is not limited to, the design, fabrication, delivery, transport to site, unloading, storing, erection, testing, start-up and com

  • EGYPT

    Sale of land and hotel buildings of the Al-Ain el-Sokhna hotel on the Gulf of Suez and the adjacent land. Offers should be addressed to Chairman, Egyptian General Company for Tourism & Hotels, telephone (202) 7925529, fax (202) 7952393, email info@egoth.com.eg, website www.egoth.com.eg.Details on payment of £E 50,000 from Holding Company for Tourism & Cinema, 4 Latin America Street, Garden City, Cairo, telephone (202) 7946731, fax (202) 7922333, email info@hotac.com.e

  • Egypt announces new bird flu victim

    Cairo announced its tenth bird flu victim on 27 December when a 26-year old man died after testing positive for the deadly H5N1 strain. The man had been admitted to hospital ten days earlier and is the third person to die of the virus since 24 December. The victim's family reared ducks and a number had become infected after slaughtering three infected birds in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. A health ministry spokesman said the latest outbreak of H5N1 had been expect

  • Egypt/Israel gas pipeline goes ahead

    The Egyptian/Israeli consortium East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) and Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) signeda commercial agreement on 8 August for the supply of gas from Egypt to Israel. A subsea pipeline from El-Arish in Egypt to Ashkelon in southern Israel will transport 7,000 million cubic metres a year of gas. The construction of the pipeline is expected to take 24 months. Cairo and Tel Aviv on 30 June signed a memorandum of understanding for the project (MEED 24:6:05).

  • Egyptian Cement completes bond issue

    Egyptian Cement Company (ECC) has completed a £E 1,000 million ($160 million) bond issue. Company sources say the £E 500 million ($80 million) local currency tranche, which carries a coupon of 11.75 per cent, was 3.2 times oversubscribed. The $80 million dollar-denominated tranche, priced at 150 basis points over Libor, was 2.2 times oversubscribed. The 6.5-year non-convertible paper will be used to refinance the company's existing debt as well as to fund a debottlenecking project at its

  • Egypt's construction industry benefits from cement price cap

    It was a bold decision but it seems to be paying off. In August, Egypt's Foreign Trade & Industry Minister Rachid Mohammed Rachid moved to cap the country's rising cement prices, inflated by mounting gas, fuel and electricity costs.

  • Election candidates file complaints

    With Bahrain's parliamentary elections close to a conclusion, Munira Fakhro, the National Democratic Action Society (Waad) candidate in the race for Isa Town constituency, announced on 28 November that she will file a complaint at court. Fakhro lost to her opponent Salah Ali from the Al-Menbar Islamic bloc, which is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. She is arguing that Ali owed his victory to out-of-constituency votes. At least four other candidates in the elections

  • El-Tebbine steams ahead

    Cairo Electricity Production Company (CEPC) has selected France's Alstom for the contract to supply and install two steam turbines for the 650-MW El-Tebbine steam power plant.

  • Emaar takes on Dome

    The local Dome International has begun work on an environmental assessment study for its AED 12,000 million ($3,300 million) Umm al-Qaiwain Marina development. Local real estate developer Emaar Properties launched the project in mid-2005 (MEED 3:6:06).

  • Embassies re-opened

    Syria and Iraq on 11 December formally ended a 20-year long diplomatic standoff and re-opened their embassies in each other's capitals in simultaneous ceremonies. The neighbouring countries cut their ties during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Ambassadors have yet to be appointed. A report released by the Iraq Study Group on 6 December has recommended that the US engage Syria and Iran in efforts to stabilise Iraq.

  • EMCREDIT: Data acquisition

    Emcredit chief executive officer Bashar Saleh Qallab explains how the UAE's new credit bureau will operate How does the credit bureau work?It is a private network of partners that works on the basis of reciprocity. To get credit information you have to be a member and a bank licensed in the UAE. Network partners will provide information that meets our criteria to the system and then they can access the data pool. First we'll have banks and then we may have particular industry networks, s

  • Energy adviser licensed

    The Central Bank of Bahrain has granted an investment advisory licence to Global Union Energy Ventures, a company established in March to provide financial advisory services to companies in the energy industry. The kingdom will become the hub for the institution's operations in the Middle East. It also has an office in Algeria to serve Africa. Athens-based oil shipping company Stealth Petroleum recent appointed Global Union to advise on a capital-raising process with a view to a possible listing

  • Energy law due in new year

    The state's new law governing the award and regulation of oil and gas contracts will become fully effective in early 2007, say officials in Algiers. 'Many of the application texts have been finalised and others are with the government secretary-general to be finalised,' says Sid Ali Betata, head of Agence Nationale pour la Valorisation des Ressources en Hydrocarbures (Alnaft).'Staffing is almost complete and recruitment is under way for the remaining positions. 2007 will be the y

  • Environment: Zayed's legacy

    As a young man, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan was said to be an excellent marksman and enjoyed nothing more than hunting in the desert. But as the former Abu Dhabi ruler and founder of the federation grew older, he hung up his rifle and turned his attentions to conservation.

  • Esfahan Steel takes Sirjan plant from Arfa Iron & Steel

    The Sirjan steel project has been taken over by Esfahan Steel Company (Esco) from Arfa Iron & Steel Company. Both are owned by Iran Mineral Industries Development & Renovation Organisation (Imidro). Arfa says a tender winner will be selected in December for its $200 million direct reduction project at Ardakan and that a tender could be issued early in the new year for a blast furnace at Zarand (MEED 29:9:06).The Sirjan plant was originally developed by Arfa alongside its other two projec

  • EU ends Israel loan freeze

    The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to provide Israel with loans worth an estimated Eur 275 million ($360 million) to promote business and environmental projects, it was announced on 28 December. The largest portion of the loans will be directed to more than 400 small projects in the recycling and waste water treatment sectors. The rest of the finance will be used to finance the expansion of small- and medium-sized businesses. The loans are the EIB's first to Israel in more t

  • Europeans and locals win Al-Qurayyah contracts

    Contracts totalling more than $250 million have been won by Europe's ABB and the local National Contracting Company (NCC) for transmission and distribution work on the planned Al-Qurayyah power plant. The client on both projects is Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).ABB has been awarded the larger of the two contracts, worth SR 772 million ($206 million), to build a 380-kV substation next to the 850-MW first phase Al-Qurayyah facility. The 30-month contract also includes the option for a s

  • Experts back Bulgarian nurses in HIV case

    Researchers analysing the HIV virus in Libyan children have found it is unlikely that they were infected by five Libyan nurses and a Palestinian doctor. Writing in Nature, the experts said the HIV subtype found in the children was present in Libya before the foreign medics arrived in the country in 1998. 'All the lines of scientific evidence point in the same direction, towards a long standing infection control problem at the hospital, dating back to the mid 1990s or earlier,'

  • Falak contractors line up

    Local developer Falak Properties has awarded two contracts worth an estimated AED 450 million ($123 million) for foundations and superstructure work for seven mid-rise residential towers at Dubai Sports City. The contracts were awarded to the local United Engineering Construction and a local joint venture of Al-Liwan Contracting and Intermass Engineering Contracting Company.

  • Fatah gunmen fire at Hamas members

    At least two people were wounded when gunmen loyal to Fatah on 22 December opened fire on Hamas members in Nablus in the West Bank. The incident occurred as about 200 Hamas loyalists were preparing to hold a rally. On the same day, a gunfight broke out in Gaza City near the home of Hamas Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar.Violence between rival factions broke out a week earlier when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for

  • Feedstock: Mixing and matching

    For an industry that has been built on low-cost ethane feedstock, the message coming out of Saudi Aramco these days is not particularly comforting. 'We are in the beyond ethane era,' Aramco senior vice-president Khalid al-Falih told the first Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association (GPCA) conference on 16 December. 'Ethane will remain limited, despite all the investment that is being made in our crude increment and non-associated gas programmes.'Ethane has been the feedstock of c

  • Fertiliser contract signed

    The engineering, procurement and construction contract to develop units at Shiraz Fertiliser Company (SFC) was awarded in late November to a team led by the local Petrochemical Industries Design & Engineering Company (PIDEC). The deal is the first in Iran's petrochemicals sector for months and came shortly after the appointment of a new head of National Petrochemical Company (NPC MEED 17:3:06).

  • Fibrex to build Reef villas

    The local Fibrex Company has been awarded an estimated AED 1,500 million ($409 million) main construction package on the Reef villas development in Abu Dhabi. Located next to Abu Dhabi airport, the project involves the construction of 2,500 villas. The local Crown Engineering Consultancy is the consultant. The local Manazel Real Estate is the client.

  • Fichtner wins in Dubai

    Germany's Fichtner has been appointed consultant on two major projects by Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA). The firm will provide full consultancy services for the Bahraha substation project, which involves the construction of a new 400/132-kV substation and associated transmission line work. It has also won a contract to upgrade and expand the emirate's supervisory control and data acquisition system.

  • Fighting continues as Blair arrives in Ramallah

    Clashes between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah continued on 18 December as visiting UK Prime Minister Tony Blair backed calls for early elections. Two days earlier, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he would go ahead with the polls in an effort to put an end to tensions between his Fatah party and Hamas. 'I felt it was essential to allow the people to have their say on a platform that achieves Palestinian national interests,' Abbas said.

  • Filipinos get start date for Tartous terminal

    International Container Terminal Services (ICTS) of the Philippines will commence operations at Tartous container terminal in early 2007, following the signing of its operating concession with Tartous Port General Company (TPGC). Under the 10-year build-operate-transfer concession signed in late November, ICTS will invest $37 million to develop the terminal at Tartous port, 258 kilometres west of Damascus. 'The terminal upgrade will target the local market first before looking at the potential o

  • Filling kilns: Saudi's large-scale cement capacity expansion programme

    The Saudi construction market is hotting up. The project workload across all sectors has risen to nearly $400,000 million in 2006, almost doubling that of the previous year.

  • Final approval nears for first Islamic bank

    Kuwait's Al-Shall Consulting & Investment Company is set to receive final approval in early September from the cabinet for the country's long-awaited first Islamic bank (MEED 10:2:06).

  • Firms await tender for central bank

    The tender is due to be issued soon for the main construction package on the new Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) headquarters, in the Sharq district of Kuwait City. Seven international contractors are prequalified for the contract, after the submission of prequalification applications in the summer (MEED 17:6:05).

  • Firms called for effluent job

    State upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has invited 26 international contractors to submit bids by 18 February for a major contract to install enhanced effluent disposal facilities in the southeast of the country.Evaluation will take about four months, with an award due to be made by the summer.Under the terms of the estimated $100 million-200 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, the successful contractor will install additional effluent

  • First Islamic banks to open

    The country's first Islamic bank and a new private bank backed by GCC institutions are due to start operations early next year.The sharia-compliant Al-Cham Bank will start up at the end of January after an initial public offering (IPO) of shares closed on 7 December several times oversubscribed. The sale of 250,000 shares represents 25 per cent of the bank's capital of $100 million. The remaining 26 per cent of locally owned capital is held by private investors. Foreign shareholders have

  • First prices submitted for Abu Dhabi central market

    Local real estate developer Aldar Properties has received preliminary prices from two groups for the main construction contract on the estimated $1,200 million redevelopment of Abu Dhabi's central market.

  • Five dead in Gaza

    At least three people were killed as battles between rival Hamas and Fatah gunmen erupted in Gaza on 19 December. The bodies of two Fatah security men were also found in a street, a day after they were abducted. Violence between the rival factions has reached unprecedented levels. Palestinian MP Mustafa Barghouti, who is mediating between the two sides, said 'all efforts' were being exerted in an effort to end the tensions. 'We could reach a point where the people in the street

  • Fluor wins Jubail complex

    The US' Fluor Corporation has taken the project management consultancy (PMC) contract on the multi-billion-dollar petrochemical complex being developed at Jubail by the US/local joint venture of INEOS Enterprises and Delta Oil Company (MEED 29:9:06). Fluor will conduct basic engineering design on some of the project's process units, prepare tender documents, and provide supervision services on the various engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts.

  • Four killed in hospital attacks

    At least four people were killed and seven more injured when two car bombs detonated outside Baghdad's main hospital on 28 November. Officials said most of the victims were civilians waiting to collect the bodies of their relatives from the mortuary at Yarmouk hospital. In Kirkuk, police said the province's governor Abdul Rahman Mustafa survived a suicide bomb attack. One person was killed and at least 12 more were wounded in the blast. 'It was the third assassination atte

  • French bid low for water management contracts

    France's Saur Group is the low bidder for contracts to manage drinking water and sanitation facilities in three of the country's largest cities. The contracts are part of Algiers' drive to stem water losses from the system running at 50 per cent.

  • French selected for Metro

    The National Authority of Tunnels (NAT) has selected a number of French firms for four packages on the Cairo Metro third line project and expects to make one more award imminently and another by late January.For the signalling works package, NAT has selected the French team of Alstom and Alcatel. Another French bidder, Vinci, will carry out civil works on the project, while AMEC Spie Capag has been selected for the mechanical and electrical works. The local Orascom Construction Industrie

  • Fujairah awards apron expansion work

    Fujairah National Construction will mobilise in January on the project to double the apron space at Fujairah International Airport. The scheme will add 52,000 square metres of parking space and provide an additional 12,000 parking spaces. The UK's Mott MacDonald is the consultant. The client is Fujairah's Department of Civil Aviation (FDCA).

  • FUNDS: Entrepreneurial spirit

    More than $15,600 million has been raised in the last 18 months by private equity funds in the Middle East. The figure is the equivalent of 2 per cent of regional GDP and double the fraction of private equity to worldwide GDP of 1 per cent.

  • Gaddafi in Nigerian diplomatic faux pas

    Nigerian security officers refused to allow Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's 200 bodyguards to keep their weapons after landing at Abuja airport on 28 November. Gaddafi is in Nigeria for a summit of African and Latin American foreign affairs ministers. Nigerian President Obasanjo intervened to urge the Libyans to leave their weapons onboard their plane. Enraged, Gaddafi set out for Abuja, which is 40 kilometres away from the airport, on foot. However, he was persuaded to re

  • Galsi pipeline moves into the next phase

    The estimated $2,500 million project to build a 774 million-cubic-feet-a-day gas pipeline to Italy will reach two key milestones in January, with the formation of a new project company and the signing of an inter-governmental agreement between Algiers and Rome.The new Galsi pipeline project company will have the same structure as the existing Galsi consortium a grouping of state energy company Sonatrach, Germany's Wintershall and five Italian companies and will have capital of Eur 30 m

  • Gas competition nears

    Sonatrach has invited Japan's JGC Corporation and Stone & Webster, part of the US' Shaw Group. to submit alternative proposals for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of a third liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant at Hassi Messaoud. The state oil company will award the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to the company that submits its preferred FEED proposal. The 30-month EPC contract calls for two-three LPG trains, due to come on stream in early 2010. Work on the F

  • Gasco presses ahead with integrated gas

    Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Company (Gasco) has invited companies to submit technical and commercial bids by 13 January for two project management consultancy (PMC) contracts to oversee front-end engineering and design (FEED) work on the integrated gas development (IGD) project (MEED 21:7:06).

  • Gassi Touil awaits pricing

    A consortium of Japan's JGC Corporation and the US' Kellogg Brown & Root expects to begin work in March on the main construction contract on the $3,500 million liquefied natural gas project at Arzew, following the conclusion of price negotiations (MEED 21:7:06).'The market situation makes it very difficult to have a firm price, so we don't know if our estimatation will meet that of the client,' says head of JGC Algeria Kiyoshi Mizushina. 'The feedstock for the project is still being esta

  • GAZA - WEST BANK

    Tender no LAP No-3. Project no P080892. Provision of the following surveying services for a systematic land registration pilot project in Beir Nabala and Beituniya: 1) Beir Nabala - a 500 dunum pilot area of a suburban nature, comprising 480 buildings; and 2) Beituniya - a 1,500 dunum pilot area of an urban nature, including areas with incomplete settlements, comprising 980 buildings. Both areas have new ortho-photo maps and ground control points. Financed by the World Bank. The estimated dur

  • GCC rail award imminent

    Plans to build a pan-GCC rail network are moving ahead with a consultant due to be selected by year-end to carry out a feasibility study. Commercial offers from consultants are due to be opened on 4 December (MEED 23:6:06).Five groups of consultants were originally prequalified, although sources close to the project suggest the list is now down to four. The original prequalifiers were consortiums led by France's Systra, the UK's WSP Group, Germany's DE-Consult, and Louis Berger and Parso

  • GCC rail moves step closer

    The GCC Technical Committee is poised to award the feasibility study contract for a pan-Gulf railway after opening commercial bids in early December. The project is seen as vital for improving social and economic links within the union.

  • GE supplies mega turbines

    Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has awarded the US' GE Energy three contracts, totalling $973 million, to supply gas turbines for three power plants in Riyadh and the Eastern Province. The placement of the turbine order separate to the civils construction package is a one-off contracting strategy employed by SEC in an effort to rapidly ramp up generating capacity (MEED 29:9:06).

  • GE/Techint wins Kureimat 3

    Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) has awarded a joint venture of US-based General Electric (GE) and Italy's Techint the contract to supply and install two gas turbines on the 750-MW Kureimat 3 power project.

  • Ghannouch prices due in

    Commercial bids are expected in January for the estimated TD 360 million ($279 million) project to develop a combined-cycle power plant at Ghannouch near Gabes, says a source close to the project (MEED 1:9:06).

  • GIB gets A rating

    Ratings agency Fitch has upgraded the long and short-term ratings of Gulf International Bank to A and F1, citing the buoyant economic environment in the GCC and consequent improvement in the ability of the bank's government shareholders to support the bank in case of difficulties. GIB is owned by the six GCC governments and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA central bank).

  • Golf community studied

    Local developer Tatweer plans to build a golf community in Dubailand. Al-Ruwaya will include a golf course designed by Tiger Woods, a golf academy; a clubhouse, a boutique hotel, 300 luxury villas; 20 mansions and a shopping centre. Completion is scheduled for 2009.

  • Golf Gardens work starts

    The local Abu Dhabi Maintenance & Contracting has started enabling works package for the Golf Gardens development next to Abu Dhabi International Airport. Bids are under evaluation for the main building package. The project involves the construction of 389 villas and associated infrastructure. Completion is scheduled for the third quarter of 2008. US-based Otak is the consultant. Local property developer Sorouh Real Estate is the client (MEED 29:9:06).

  • Government of Jordan

    Following the replacement of Prime Minister Adnan Badran after the Amman terrorist bombings, King Abdullah named Maaruf al-Bakhit as Prime Minister on 24 November 2005 (and the appointed the new cabinet three days later). Al-Bakhit was an army-general, then ambassador to Tel Aviv and was hurried into the cabinet as Security Minister after the bombings and promoted to prime minister very soon afterwards. He is said to have a mandate to improve Jordanian security and push through a nationa

  • Government of Jordan

    Jordan's King Abdullah on 22 November swore in nine new ministers in a reshuffle aimed to facilitate greater cohesion in Prime Minister Marouf Bakheet's cabinet. Bakheet kept 14 of the 23 members of his previous cabinet and changed the portfolios of two. Abdelelah al-Khatib kept his position as Foreign Affairs Minister. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ziad Fariz and Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez also held onto their posts. Sharif al-Zubi was moved from trade and industry and

  • Grants spark budget fears

    Amman has approved the draft budget for 2007. Despite a sharp fall in the deficit, concerns remain on the country's continued reliance on grants.

  • Gulf consortium targets six-lane highway to Aswan

    The Bahraini/Gulf-based consortium led by Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) and Gulf Finance House has expressed interest in a transport ministry plan to build a £E 58,000 million ($10,000 million) six-lane highway between Borg el-Arab and Aswan.A Transport Ministry source said tendering is expected to begin early in 2007.The three-phase project, expected to run 30 kilometres west of the Nile, will stretch 1,200 kilometres. Extensions will push the total length to 2,170 k

  • Gulf states seek nuclear power

    GCC states are seeking to develop nuclear technology for civilian purposes, a statement issued at the end of a two-day conference in Riyadh said on 10 December. 'The states of the region have a right to possess nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,' said GCC chief Abdulrahman al-Attiya.The six GCC states said they were considering establishing a joint nuclear programme. 'It is not a threat, said Saudi Arabia's Foreign Affairs Minister Prince

  • Gulf water grid set to transform regional supply

    The GCC is developing plans for a Gulf-wide network that will change the face of the region's water sector. Called the GCC water grid, the multi-billion-dollar project will enable the six GCC states to trade potable water to meet fluctuations in demand.

  • Gunmen attack VP's convoy

    Gunmen on 14 December attacked the convoy of Iraqi vice-president Adel Abdul Mahdi. No casualties were reported. 'The convoy was going toward Karrada district and reached Mulla Huwaish Mosque when gunmen opened fire on it,' Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Karim Khalaf told Reuters. 'Security guards returned fire.' An aide to Mahdi denied the attack had taken place. Also on 14 December, 20-30 people were kidnapped by gunmen from a commercial

  • Hajj bid raises capacity questions

    A team of Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) with France's Aeroports de Paris is the favourite to win the Hajj terminal upgrade contract at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. The group submitted the best offer after technical and commercial prices were opened in early December (MEED 3:11:06).

  • Hamas blames Fatah for attempt on Haniya's life

    Hamas officials on 15 December accused the rival Fatah party of trying to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister and head of Hamas Ismail Haniya. Guards allied to Fatah exchanged fire with Haniya's security forces as he crossed the border into Gaza at Rafah late in the evening. One of Haniya's bodyguard's was killed and his son was injured in the crossfire. Israel had initially ordered EU monitors to close the border crossing to prevent Haniya from returning to Gaza with $30 mi

  • Haniya on regional tour

    Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniya has set out on his first foreign tour since taking office. He arrived in Egypt on 28 November. His trip will also take in Qatar, Syria, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Sudan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. On 29 November, Haniya held talks with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa before attending a press conference where he called on the international community to pressure Israel into accepting an independent Palestinian state.

  • Health Care City cooled

    The local Transgulf has started work on the AED 220 million ($60 million) contract to build a district cooling system at Dubai Health Care City. The scope includes all civil, mechanical, electrical and plumbing works for a 56,000-tonne-capacity refrigeration district cooling plant and a distribution network. The local Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) is the client (MEED 9:6:06).

  • Hezbollah calls for demonstration

    Hezbollah and its allies have called for their supporters to stage peaceful demonstrations in Beirut on 1 December to call for the formation of a national unity government. Hezbollah together with the shia Amal Movement, led by parliament speaker Nabih Berri, and Michel Aoun, the Christian leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, are seeking greater representation in the cabinet. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has refused to hand over one-third-plus-one of the seats in his government to the

  • Hezbollah calls for historic protests

    Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies on 7 December called on their supporters to escalate protests against Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government. The opposition has called for 'historic and decisive' demonstrations on 10 December, hoping it will be 'a day in which deaf ears and blind eyes would open by meeting the legitimate demands and replacing monopoly with participation and the one-colour government with a national unity government,' a statement by the opposition said.

  • Hezbollah demands early elections

    Hezbollah, together with its pro-Syrian allies, has called for early elections in Lebanon, after the government rejected its demands for a national unity government. On 18 December, the opposition said it was demanding 'first of all…a new law for parliamentary elections and secondly…early parliamentary elections'. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa who is mediating between the rival factions is due to return to Beirut on 19 De

  • Hezbollah plotting coup, says Siniora

    Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on 8 December accused Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah of planning to overthrow the government. Siniora was speaking a day after Nasrallah said the opposition would set up an interim government, circumventing the present administration. 'The least that can be said is that Nasrallah was not right yesterday to say what he said,' Siniora told Doha-based Al-Jazeera satellite television. 'He is trying to stage a coup. Or at least he is t

  • Honam hones Mesaieed agreement

    South Korea's Honam Petrochemical Corporation has indicated that the joint venture deal with Qatar Petroleum (QP) for the Mesaieed mixed feedstock petrochemicals complex will not be signed until mid-2007.'It will take some more time to finalise the joint venture agreement, and while it depends on negotiations, we hope to sign in the next six months,' Honam senior managing director Soo Young Huh told MEED on 17 December (MEED 6:1:06).Honam signed a memorandum of understanding with

  • Hotel group ups capital

    The local Orascom Hotels & Development (OHD) has received shareholder approval to increase its authorised capital to£E 5,000 million ($874 million) and its paid-up capital by£E 80.5 million ($14 million) to£E 1,080 million ($1,88.9 million). OHD chairman Samih Sawiris will purchase 16.1 million new shares to replace those he sold in November. OHD plans to acquire 51 per cent of local Garana Touristic Group through an estimated£E 235 million ($41 million) share swap and a 40 per cent stake in the

  • IMF urges more ambitious reform

    The IMF has acknowledged continued economic growth and the improving investment climate in Egypt, but said the government could further reduce its deficit without hurting the economy.Cairo has already committed to reduce its fiscal deficit, estimated in 2006 to be 8 per cent of GDP, by 1 per cent a year. But in a report issued on 18 December, the fund said: 'Given the favourable economic environment, the [IMF] is of the view that a more ambitious fiscal consolidation path is feasible

  • Improving labour camps in the UAE

    A bid to boost the plight of workers in UAE labour camps is beginning to make an impact.

  • Incumbent takes speaker post

    Khalifa al-Dhahrani, the incumbent speaker of the Bahraini parliament (National Assembly), was re-elected for another four-year term on 19 December. Ghanem al-Buainain, president of Salafist party Al-Asala, was elected first deputy speaker and Salah Ali, chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood's Al-Menbar Society, became second deputy speaker. The Shia opposition party Al-Wefaq again boycotted the session. Al-Wefaq, which won 17 seats in Bahrain's Nov

  • Industry Ministry employees robbed

    Masked gunmen, some in police uniforms, on 19 December stole at least ID 1,250 million ($875,000) in cash from Industry Ministry employees in Baghdad, police officials said. The workers from the ministry were collecting money for salaries from a bank in the Karrada district. The Interior Ministry said the gunmen stormed the bank itself, taking ID 2,000 million ($1.4 million).This is the second robbery of its kind in the Iraqi capital in 10 days.

  • Infrastructure costs soar

    A global surge in infrastructure investment, led partly by Gulf investment funds, could be causing an infrastructure asset price bubble, Standard & Poor's (S&P) has warned.

  • Inquiry threat to UK trade

    British businesses have voiced fears that an investigation by the UK's Serious Fraud Office into the 20-year old Al-Yamamah defence deal between London and Riyadh could seriously harm UK interests in the kingdom.'This could affect our relationships across the board,' says director general of the London-based Middle East Association Michael Thomas. 'It couldn't have come at a worse time. Relations with Saudi Arabia are at an all time high. I am extremely concerned. We need some signals fr

  • Interchange tender issued

    Abu Dhabi's Municipalities & Agriculture Department has invited companies to submit bids by 29 January for a contract to build two interchanges on Salam street. The first interchange, at Sheikh Hezza bin Zayed street, involves the construction of two bridges and a tunnel. The second will have two tunnels.

  • Interest sought for International City sewerage

    The local Palm Water has invited companies to express interest in the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the sewage treatment plant (STP) at International City. Bids were first submitted in the third quarter of this year for the EPC package but the client decided to seek fresh prices (MEED 29:9:06).The plant, with an expected capacity of 110,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d), will replace the smaller 32,000-cm/d STP that local developer Nakheel had planned for the develop

  • INTERNATIONAL LISTINGS: London still feted

    Investcorp completed its placement of global depositary receipts (GDRs) on 4 December on the London Stock Exchange. The Bahrain-based investment bank was undeterred by the cancellation the previous month of a planned GDR issue by Dubai-based Oger Telecom, blaming turbulent regional stock markets.The Investcorp GDRs, each representing 0.01 ordinary shares, were priced at $29, raising $420 million of new capital and creating a market capitalisation of about $2,100 million. The equity was p

  • Invensys wins three deals

    The UK's Invensys Process Systems has won three multi-million-dollar automation and control systems upgrade contracts in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Saudi Arabian contract covers the upgrade of the existing distributed control systems (DCS) at the Shedgum and Uthmaniyah gas plants, operated by Saudi Aramco. The Qatar deal will see Invensys install the latest mesh network-based DCS, gas and fire protection systems and testing systems at liquefied natural gas trains 5 and 6 at the RasGa

  • Investcorp loads revolver

    Investcorp, the Bahrain-based investment bank, has closed a $500 million revolving loan with a group of 30 banks. The five-year facility was launched at $300 million but received offers in excess of $850 million leading to the increase in size. JP Morgan and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein were the joint bookrunners.

  • Investment bonanza shifts risk to developers

    Algiers plans to build 9,000-10,000 MW of new electricity generation capacity by 2015, but take-or-pay price guarantees will no longer be a standard part of development contracts. Speaking at the third international energy conference in Oran, Sonelgaz head Noureddine Boutarfa said that a total of $5,300 million will be invested in the electricity sector by 2009.The new capacity will replace existing facilities, meet rising local demand and provide opportunities for export to Europe. But

  • Investors discuss Duqm

    The government is in talks with international companies about investing in the integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex planned at Duqm. The company will be owned by a new project company, which may include international investors joining the government in the shareholding.The masterplan for the Duqm complex envisages the construction of a major petrochemicals facility. It will include the world's largest polypropylene plant with a capacity of 1.2 million-1.5 million tonnes a year

  • Investors revitalise transport sector

    Cairo's plans to form public-private partnerships to upgrade the country's crumbling transport infrastructure received a major boost in early December with the signing of several major transport investment agreements with investors.On 3 December, the Transport Ministry signed an agreement with Kuwait's Kharafi Construction Company to establish a transport projects company. Kharafi is taking a 76 per cent holding in the new company, with the Transport Ministry holding 14 per cent and

  • IRAN

    Expressions of interest. (Open only to local/foreign prequalified contractors and those from Islamic Development Bank member countries). Rehabilitation of the Mahan-Barn Rostamabad highway, as part of the Bam earthquake emergency reconstruction project. The project comprises two separate contracts: the Mahan-Abaregh segment over about 102 kilometres; and 2) the Abaregh-Rostamabad segment over some 87 kilometres. The completion period for each contract will be 18 months. Financed by the World Ba

  • IRAN

    Expressions of interest. Provision of consultancy services comprising an institutional study and design of training programmes to municipalities for an urban upgrading and housing reform project in Zahedan, Bandar Abbas, Kermanshah, Sanandaj and Tabriz. The objective of the municipal capacity building component is to build capacity at the local level to deal with the challenge of urban upgrading of informal settlements. Financed by World Bank.

  • IRAN

    Tender no RES-57493. Supply of 57,000 kilos of coal anthrofilt (anthracite) of various sizes. Bid bond is IR 1.2 million or Eur 1,000.

  • IRAN

    Tender no 52228488. Supply of switches, switchblades and rails for switch LU33 R190. Bid bond is IR 150 million or Eur 12,295.Details from Iran Mines & Mineral Industries Development & Renovation Organisation, Khouzestan Steel Company, 10th Kilometre, Ahwaz-Bandar Imam Khomeini Road, PO Box 1378, Ahwaz 61335, telephone (98611) 2279157/2279620, fax (98611) 2279153, website www.ksc.ir.

  • IRAN

    Tender no 85/20/AS. Supply of four tanker handling/fire-fighting tug boats. Bid bond is Eur 500,000.

  • IRAN

    Tender no 85/29. Supply of 120 tonnes of anthracite.Details, available until 20 December, Iranian Aluminium Company, Commercial Department, Iran Mines & Mineral Industries Development & Renovation Organisation, Fifth Kilometre of Qom Road, PO Box 31, Arak, telephone (98861) 2162450-1, fax (98861) 4132259, email commercial@iralco.net, website www.iralco.net.

  • IRAN

    Tender no 85/28. Supply of 300 tonnes of foundry coke.Details, available until 20 December, Iranian Aluminium Company, Commercial Department, Iran Mines & Mineral Industries Development & Renovation Organisation, Fifth Kilometre of Qom Road, PO Box 31, Arak, telephone (98861) 2162450-1, fax (98861) 4132259, email commercial@iralco.net, website www.iralco.net.

  • IRAN

    Tender no 85/27. Supply of 60,000 tonnes of anode blocks.Details, available until 20 December, Iranian Aluminium Company, Commercial Department, Iran Mines & Mineral Industries Development & Renovation Organisation, Fifth Kilometre of Qom Road, PO Box 31, Arak, telephone (98861) 2162450-1, fax (98861) 4132259, email commercial@iralco.net, website www.iralco.net.

  • IRAN

    Prequalification. Carrying out, on a turnkey engineering, procurement and construction basis, a pre-paid evaluation of the 3-cubic-metre-a-second Shiraz water supply project, to finance the cost of the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning. Preliminary studies for the project have been carried out by the Tehran Boston Consulting Engineering Company. Details, available until 23 December, from Fars Regional Water Authority, Energy Ministry, Tehran Boston Consul

  • IRAN

    Tender no 850922. Supply of 15,000 tonnes of carbon ferro manganese. Bid bond is Eur 180,000.

  • Iran holds Holocaust conference

    Iran opened a conference on 11 December to discuss the Holocaust and question whether it actually happened. Several countries have condemned the meeting. 'The aim of this conference is not to deny or confirm the Holocaust,' said Foreign Affairs Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. 'Its main aim is to create an opportunity for thinkers who cannot express their views freely in Europe about the Holocaust.' The conference is being attended by a number of revisionist European academics as w

  • Iran to allow atomic sampling

    Tehran on 28 November said it would allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to take more samples from a site at Lavizan-Shian where an academic centre stood until 2004. 'Iran has accepted the agency's request for taking further samples from the centre,' Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Mohammed Ali Hosseini said. Earlier in 2006, the IAEA said some vacuum pumps at the site had tested positive for highly enriched uranium that can potentially

  • Iran to hold elections soon

    Iran will hold elections for local councils and the 86-member Assembly of Experts, a powerful clerical body, on 15 December. The council appoints, supervises and dismisses the Supreme Leader. New assembly members will be appointed for a 10-year term rather than eight years as in the past. Reports say the elections will be the first test of President Ahmadinejad's popularity since he came to power. Reformists are hoping that high voter turnout wil

  • Iran wary of talks with US

    Tehran on 7 December responded cautiously to the Iraq Study Group's suggestion that the US should engage Iran in efforts to stabilise Iraq. 'Any decision by the US to withdraw from Iraq does not require any negotiations with Iran or any other country in the region,' Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said. '[The] report has some important points… There seems to be at least some aspects of the US administration's policy in Iraq which are considered to hav

  • Iranian elections start

    Iranians went to the polls on 15 December to elect local council representatives and members of the Assembly of Experts, the powerful clerical body. Officials say the result may not be announced until 17 December. Reformists are hoping they will regain seats which they lost to conservatives in council elections in 2003. Some 46.5 million people are eligible to vote in Iran and the reformists have been trying to mobilise their supporters. Iranian state media said turnout was hig

  • Iranian minister killed in crash

    Jamal Karimirad, Iran's justice minister, was killed in a car crash, it was announced in Tehran on 29 December. Two members of the minister's family, also in the car, were understood to have been injured. The crash occurred near Salafjegen, 170 kilometres south of Tehran in a car thought to be being driven by Karimirad's son.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no 5364/QR-01/2006. Supply of 300 kilometres of various sized pipes and heat-shrinkable sleeves for connecting pipelines between refineries and oil depots in Kurdistan.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no 1393-2005. Supply of a complete steam turbine for cooling water pumps.Details on payment of ID 100,000 from North Gas Company, PO Box 16, Kirkuk, fax (1281) 2201286, email ngc_kirkuk@yahoo.com.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no 5241/QR-15/2006. Supply of line pipe, heat shrinkable sleeves, and product line pipe for Samawa-Nasriya.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no 1512-2006. Supply of turbine oils.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no 3504/2007. Supply of two 500-tonne lithium bromide absorption refrigeration units, one cooling tower suitable for operation of two absorption units and 100 filters for oil separators, and pumps, piping and valves.

  • IRAQ

    Design, engineering, erection, supervision, packing, CIP delivery and supply of equipment and materials for an oily wastewater treatment plant for the Kisik, Synia and Hadeetha refineries. The unit will consist of oily water pumps, rain water pumps, a corrugated plate interception unit, a rain water storage basin, a separated oil tank, a slop oil tank transfer pump and a sludge pit.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no 3503/2007. Supply of 4,000 kilos of Chimec 2211. Bid bond is 3 per cent of tender price and performance bond is 5 per cent of contract price.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no ESPP.G.ICB-2006/01. Project no P099295. Supply of the following IT equipment and related electromechanical equipment as part of an emergency social protection project: 1) personal computers and network; 2) a data centre; and 3) air-conditioning and generators. Financed by the World Bank. Bid bond is $25,000 for each lot.Details on payment of ID 150,000 or $100 from Labour & Social Affairs Ministry, Project Management Office, Ground Floor,

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP8/C/2006.Supply of 10 60-tonne side boom pipe layers and 20 40-tonne side boom pipe layers.Details on payment of $500 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP22/C/2006. Supply of 20 1.5-tonne dumper trucks.Details on payment of $50 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP24/C/2006. Supply of 250 500-amp, diesel-driven welding machines and 250 600-amp, electrical welding machines.Details on payment of $500 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP17/C/2006.Supply of six motor graders.Details on payment of $200 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP18/C/2006.Supply of 15 welding tractors.Details on payment of $300 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP19/C/2006. Supply of 15 mobile air compressors.Details on payment of $100 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP20/C/2006.Supply of 25 11-seater buses and 25 25-seater buses.Details on payment of $300 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP21/C/2006.Supply of 15 1-cubic-metre crawler excavators and five 0.5-cubic-metre mobile excavators.Details on payment of $300 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP10/C/2006.Supply of spare parts for twin arc welding machines.Details on payment of $100 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • IRAQ

    More than 150 people were presumed to have died off the coast of Yemen after a boat carrying migrants from Somalia capsized on 27 December, it was announced on 29 December. 'The confirmed death toll is 34, but 123 are still missing,' said a spokesman for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The incident happened as Yemeni security forces opened fire on boats smuggling migrants across the Gulf of Aden. Two boats offloaded their passengers while a third capsized 300 metres from the

  • IRAQ

    Tender no SCOP15/C/2006.Supply of 20 three-cubic-metre wheel loaders.Details on payment of $200 from State Company for Oil Projects, Director-General, Oil Ministry, Oil Complex Building, Port Saeed Street, PO Box 198, Baghdad, telephone (9641) 8177000/8177021/8177050, fax (9641) 8177119, telex 212230/212790 scop ik, email genscop@warkaa.net.

  • Iraq attacks worse than ever, says Pentagon

    Attacks on US and Iraqi troops and civilians have risen to almost 1,000 a week, a Pentagon report released on 19 December said. Baghdad and Anbar province have been worst hit. The Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq report said the number of attacks had risen by 22 per cent between August and November compared with the previous quarter. 'The violence in Iraq poses a grave threat to political progress [in Iraq],' the report said.

  • Iraq on verge of civil war, says Annan

    UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 28 November warned that Iraq was on the verge of civil war. 'I think given the developments on the ground, unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there,' Annan said. 'In fact we are almost there.' Iraqi President Talabani met Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 28 November. 'The first step to resolve the insecurity in Iraq is the withdrawal of the occupiers and hand

  • Iraq security chief outraged by Annan's comments

    Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie on 4 December expressed his anger at comments made by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a BBC interview a day earlier. Annan indicated that Iraq was now in a civil war. 'When we had strife in Lebanon…we called that a civil war - this is much worse,' Annan said. He added that Iraqis were worse off now than they had been under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. 'If I were an average Iraqi

  • Iraq Study Group delivers report

    The Iraq Study Group (ISG) charged with formulating a new policy direction on Iraq delivered its findings to US President Bush on 6 December. 'It is a report that brings some really very interesting proposals, and we will take every proposal seriously and we will act in a timely fashion,' Bush said. The White House has stressed that the report does not offer a 'magic formula' to solve the crisis in Iraq. The report recommends a gradual change in the mandate of US troops. B

  • IRAQI SECURITY: Securing the north

    November heralded one of the bloodiest months yet in central Iraq. The death toll rose to 1,300 in the first 20 days of the month, compared to 1,126 in the whole of October, according to Associated Press. Yet in the areas under the control of the Kurdistan regional government (KRG), an uneasy peace prevailed. Stability and the protection of regional borders are now intrinsically linked to Kurdish attempts to attract investment. 'Whatever happens in [central] Iraq, good or bad, it will have an

  • Irbil poised to sign production sharing agreements

    The Kurdistan regional government (KRG) is poised to sign up to 10 new production sharing agreements (PSAs) with international companies once its proposed hydrocarbons law covering northern Iraq has been passed by parliament, says KRG Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami.Hawrami said the KRG was preparing to sign agreements with several established international oil companies.'I am sitting on 10 contracts with medium-sized companies and entrepreneur operators,

  • ISLAMIC BANKING: Channelling wealth

    Europe has been a favoured destination for GCC wealth for decades. However, a significant minority of Gulf investors are deterred by the lack of sharia-compliant products, while others would prefer to invest Islamically if the chance existed.

  • ISLAMIC FINANCE: Courting Muslim investors

    'I want to explain the importance we attach to establishing a fair and reasonable regulatory framework for Islamic financial transactions and financial institutions,' Callum McCarthy, chairman of the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA), told a recent London conference.

  • Israel bans Haniya from returning to Gaza

    Tel Aviv on 14 December ordered the closure of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt to prevent Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya from returning. Haniya is believed to be carrying more than $30 million in cash. Reports say the money comes from donations made by Iran and other states in the region which Haniya visited.Israeli Defence Minister Emir Peretz ordered EU monitors to close the border and not reopen it until Haniya leaves the m

  • Israel rejects Baker recommendations

    Israel will not talk to Syria, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on 7 December, rejecting one of the recommendations made in a report released by the Iraq Study Group (ISG) a day earlier. 'I don't think there is a Syrian desire for war with us,' Olmert said. 'We certainly don't have a desire to fight with them. That doesn't mean conditions are ripe for us to negotiate with them.' The ISG report called on the Bush administration to resume Middle Eas

  • Israel to avoid unnecessary friction

    Israel on 4 December ordered its troops in the West Bank to steer clear of confrontations with Palestinians. 'Instructions have been issued to avoid unnecessary frictions and to abstain from actions that could serve as a pretext [for Palestinians to break a ceasefire agreed in Gaza on 26 November],' deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh said on Israeli army radio. Air strikes and arrests will now have to be approved by senior army commanders.Palestinians are calling for the

  • Israel upholds targeted killings

    Israel's Supreme Court has rejected a petition by two human rights groups to declare the policy of targeted killing of Palestinian militants illegal. 'We cannot determine in advance that all targeted killings are contrary to international law,' the court said. 'At the same time it is not possible that all such liquidations are in line with international law. The legality of all targeted killings must be examined on a case-by-case basis.' The cour

  • Israel/Egypt deal nears

    Cairo and Tel Aviv are due to sign on 30 June a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the long-delayed project for Egypt to supply gas to Israel by subsea pipeline. The framework deal will be followed by a commercial agreement, due to be concluded in the second half of July, between Israel Electric Company (IEC) and Egyptian/Israeli consortium East Mediterranean Gas(EMG), a 75:25 joint venture between Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and private Israeli company

  • Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in West Bank

    Israeli troops on 1 December shot dead two Palestinians in the West Bank. In the first incident, the Israeli military said soldiers had shot a man who threw a petrol bomb at a patrol in Hebron. Earlier, a 16-year-old boy was killed in Nablus after he allegedly threw petrol and pipe bombs at Israeli soldiers. Overnight, Israeli troops detained 29 wanted members of Hamas in the northern West Bank. A day earlier, visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Israelis a

  • Israelis to take Egyptian gas

    Israel's Dorad Energy has signed a supply agreement with the local/Israeli East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) for 1,000 million cubic metres a year (cm/y) of gas, worth at least $1,500 million. A Dorad spokesman said the contract was worth $100 million a year for 15 years with an option to extend by five years.The gas will be transported through the North Sinai-Ashkelon pipeline, expected to be operational in 2008, and the majority will be directed to Dorad's planned 800-MW power plant in the

  • Istithmar buys landmark

    Dubai-based investment house Istithmar has bought another landmark property in the UK. It has acquired The Adelphi in central London for a reported £300 million ($568 million). The acquisition of the office building follows the purchase of nearby One Trafalgar Square in September 2005. In October, Istithmar expanded its US property portfolio, which includes the Knickerbocker Hotel in Times Square and two properties on Park Avenue, through the acquisition of W Hotel Union Square in New York f

  • Istithmar cashes pension

    Dubai-based investment house Istithmar has agreed to invest $170 million in the UK's Pension Insurance Corporation, as part of the company's continued focus on the acquisition of strategic stakes in international financial institutions. Istithmar purchased a 2.7 per cent holding in Standard Chartered Bank earlier in the year and is widely thought to be aiming to raise its stake.

  • Japanese advise on desal

    Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has been awarded the financial advisory mandate on the Ras Abu Fontas A1 (RAF A1) desalination project planned by Qatar Electricity & Water Company. Calyon was initially selected for the job. The project entails the installation of 40 million gallons a day of capacity (MEED 10:11:06).

  • JORDAN

    Expressions of interest. Tender no 162/2006. (Open to US contractors only.) Rehabilitation of the northern governorates water transmission system as part of the eastern primary water transmission project, Zatary pump station and Zatary Hofa pipeline for the Water & Irrigation Ministry/Water Authority of Jordan. The scope of works comprises the supply, delivery, construction and commissioning of a new pump station at Zatary and a new pipeline extending from the new Zatary pump station to the exis

  • JORDAN

    Expressions of interest. Contract no 18/2006. Project no P069326. Provision of consultancy services comprising the carrying out of evaluation and assessments of rounds two-three of sub-projects implemented under the higher education development fund as part of the higher education development project. Financed by the World Bank. The contract is expected to be signed in the third week of January; the start date is 1 February; and the total level of effort of the assignment is estimated at about 6

  • Jordan launches third Forum for the Future

    Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit on 30 November opened the US-backed Third Forum for the Future on the shores of the Dead Sea. Foreign affairs ministers from the G8 industrialised nations, Arab, European and Muslim countries are taking part in the conference, which addresses reform in the region.The forum has previously been held in Bahrain and Morocco and is taking place for the third time since the US launched its Broader Middle East & North Africa initiative at a

  • Jordanian tourist attacker sentenced to death

    A Jordanian court on 21 December sentenced Nabil Ahmad Jaoura to death by hanging for an attack on Western tourists in Amman in September. One Briton was killed and six people were injured in the attack. Jaoura was found guilty of 'perpetrating terrorist acts that led to the death of a person and the illegal possession of a firearm'.Officials say Jaoura, who is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, has no links to any political organisations and act

  • Jordinvest heads to Syria

    Amman-based Jordinvest is planning to set up a new investment banking firm in Damascus. The company is in preliminary negotiations with the Syrian Financial Markets & Securities Commission over the new firm, which will have a capital of $9 million. Jordinvest will take a 97 per cent stake while the remaining shareholding will be offered in an initial public offering (IPO) to local investors. The firm will offer corporate finance and advisory services on potential privatisations across sectors. O

  • Jubail duo solicits banks

    The local/US National ChevronPhillips Company (NCP) and the local Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company are both due to approach the bank market in early 2007 to finance their grassroots petrochemical projects at Jubail. Initial public offerings (IPOs) are also imminent for 30 per cent of the companies' capital, as is mandatory under government rules.NCP is not appointing a financial adviser and is arranging in-house the financing of its estimated $3,000 million-4,000 million project, which

  • Kamco funds SMEs

    Kipco Asset Management Company (Kamco) has been appointed by Kuwait Investment Authority to manage the National Investment Fund Portfolio (NIFP), a new vehicle being created to invest in local small and medium-sized enterprises across economic sectors. The $50 million fund will invest in companies for a maximum of five years and will not take any share of the profits from the projects. The maximum value of the schemes is set at KD 500,000 ($1.7 million), with NIFP providing up to 50 per cent of

  • Kharafi awarded Logistics City

    Dubai's Department of Civil Aviation has awarded the biggest contract so far on the Dubai Logistics City (DLC) development at Jebel Ali, worth an estimated AED 1,500 million ($409 million).Kuwait's Mohamed Abdulmohsin Kharafi & Sons has won the main construction contract for the DLC headquarters building and office park. The 25-square-kilometre DLC is designed to handle 12 million tonnes a year of air cargo in up to 16 air cargo terminals.The 26-month contract involves the design

  • Khouri calls it a day

    Elie Khouri, chairman of Barclays Bank Egypt, will step down on 1 January after 32 years with Barclays Group. Khouri has been appointed vice-chairman of Singapore's largest bank, DBS Asia Capital. Non-executive director Dominic Bruynseels will take over as interim chairman.

  • Khurais pipeline tender nears

    Saudi Aramco will issue a tender this month for the upstream pipeline package on the Khurais crude increment programme. The estimated $350 million package involves the construction of a 170-kilometre-long, 6-18-inch-diameter in-field flowline network connecting 145 wells in the north, and a 160-kilometre network serving 130 wells in the south.Expressions of interest were submitted in October by companies including Lebanon's Contracting & Trading Company (CAT), Tekfen of Turkey, Saipem an

  • King Abdullah warns of civil wars

    Jordan's King Abdullah on 27 November warned that civil wars could erupt in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories if the international community does not act. 'We could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands,' King Abdullah said on US television. 'It is time that we really take a strong step forward as part of the international community and make sure we avert the Middle East from a tremendous crisis that I fear could possibly happen in 2007.'

  • Knowledge City plans flotation

    The local Seera City Real Estate Development Company will launch an initial public offering (IPO) in September 2007 to raise capital for its Knowledge Economic City (KEC) development in Medina. The IPO will coincide with the completion of the project's masterplan, for which a team of the US' HOK and Canada's IBI Group has been selected.'We will have a capital of SR 2,700 million [$720 million],' says Seera managing director Sami Baroum. 'SR 800 million [$213 million] has been donated, SR

  • Koreans win containers

    Qatar Navigation has awarded South Korea's Dae Sun Shipbuilding & Engineering Company a $72 million contract to build three container vessels. The ships will have a capacity of 1,015 20-foot equivalent units each.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no ME/EW/51/2006/2007. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Supply of medium-tension cables, single cables and pilot cables for electricity distribution networks for the Energy Ministry. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no RFP/1475. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Construction of a 20-inch-diameter gas line from Maa to the new gas turbine at Subiya power station. Bid bond is KD 500,000. An obligatory meeting will take place on 12 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no RFP/1380. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Operation and maintenance (O&M) of social centres and clubs. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 13 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no RFP/1294. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Provision of specialised maintenance services to the Al-Tameer building complex. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 11 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no RFP/1374. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Renovation of a sports centre in Ahmadi. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 16 December.

  • KUWAIT

    CD extension. Prequalification. Carrying out the third part of the first stage of the Bubiyan seaport project for the Public Works Ministry. The scope of works comprises the design and implementation of buildings, port operation utilities and dockyard warehouse, digging works, soil improvement works, site leveling and necessary infrastructure works, design, implementation of quay wall, port basin and all related works.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no S/MQA/3/2006-2007. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Preparation of cleaning services, internal transportation and refuse disposal for the Health Ministry. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no 1230/PD/CB. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Carrying out construction works of minor and medium projects for Kuwait National Petroleum Company's Projects Department. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 16 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no ME/EW/59/2006/2007. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Carrying out emergency works for the repair of 11-kV medium-tension damaged cables, pilot cables and related civil works in the north for the Energy Ministry. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no PA/MM/5-2007/2008. Provision of security guarding services at the Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs & Fish Resources headquarters and its various utilities. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 10 December.

  • KUWAIT

    CD extension. Tender no ME/EW/58-2006/2007. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Construction, completion and maintenance of a main drinking water distribution line from the Al-Mutalaa al-Aali water distribution complex (E14) to the West Funaitees water distribution complex (E13) C4-3 (stage three) for the Energy Ministry. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no RFQ/1029602. Supply of demulsifier for the north. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price.Details on payment of KD 300 from Kuwait Oil Company, Reception Office, Purchase Department, Ahmadi Industrial Area, Ahmadi.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no QS/T/163. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Carrying out general maintenance works to roads and squares at Capital governorate for the Public Works Ministry. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 24 December.Details on payment of KD 1,750 from Central Tenders Committee, PO Box 1070, Safat 13011, telephone (965) 2401200, fax (965) 2416574.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no QS/T/164. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Carrying out general maintenance works to roads and squares at Farwaniya governorate for the Public Works Ministry. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.A pre-bid meeting will take place on 24 December.Details on payment of KD 1,750 from Central Tenders Committee, PO Box 1070, Safat 13011, telephone (965) 2401200, fax (965) 2416574.

  • KUWAIT

    CD extension. Tender no 1161/PD/CB. Carrying out a tank farm development project for three Kuwait National Petroleum Company refineries.Details from Central Tenders Committee, PO Box 1070, Safat 13011, telephone (965) 2401200, fax (965) 2416574.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no 2006/1/1/ZAKAT. Preparation and furnishing of the Zakat House headquarters in South Surra. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.Details on payment of KD 500 from Central Tenders Committee, PO Box 1070, Safat 13011, telephone (965) 2401200, fax (965) 2416574.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no ME/45-2006/2007. Supply, installation, operation and maintenance of assembled drinking water coolers with vertical tanks for the Education Ministry and related sites. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 5 December.

  • KUWAIT

    CD extension. Tender no RFP/1360. Replacement of nine crude oil pipelines.Details from Central Tenders Committee, Khalid bin al-Waleed Street, PO Box 1070, Safat 13011, telephone (965) 2401200, fax (965) 2416574.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no PAYS/19-2005/2006. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Construction, completion and maintenance of concrete stages at Khaitan sports club for the Public Authority for Youth & Sports. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 26 December.

  • KUWAIT

    CD extension. Tender no RFP/1329. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Provision of construction services for the Ahmadi township (part 1) for Kuwait Oil Company. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no QS/T/162. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Drawing and maintenance of ground traffic signs for the Public Works Ministry. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 10 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no ME/EW/54/2006/2007. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Carrying out annual maintenance works for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment at the Subiya power and water distillation station for the Energy Ministry. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 6 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no 2-2006/2007. Linking of fibre-optic networks for the National Guard. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 6 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no 10/2006-2007. Construction and completion of a hydraulic building annexe for the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 27 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no 11/2006-2007. Provision of technical and administrative services with specialized technical manpower for the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. Bid bond KD 3,000. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 26 December.Details on payment of KD 500 from Central Tenders Committee, PO Box 1070, Safat 13011, telephone (965) 2401200, fax (965) 2416574.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no 1123/PD/CB. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Revamping of effluent treatment facilities at refineries. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price.A pre-bid meeting will take place on 15 January.Details, available from 24 December, on payment of KD 3,000 from Kuwait National Petroleum Company, Internal Tenders Committee, PO Box 70, Ahmadi 13001.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no ME/EW/46/2006-2007. Supply and installation of a reverse osmosis seawater desalination unit with produced water alkalinity increase equipment at the 30 million-gallon-a-day Shuwaikh station for the Energy Ministry. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price.A pre-bid meeting will take place on 23 January.Details on payment of KD 3,000 from Central Tenders Committee, PO Box 1070, Safat 13011, telephone (965) 2401200, fax (965) 2416574.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no ME/EW/81/2006-2007. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Maintenance and repair of electrical and control devices with accessories at all water sector sites for the Energy Ministry. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 10 January.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no ME/EW/49/2006-2007. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Carrying out emergency repair works for 11-kV medium-tension damaged cables and pilot cables and carrying out related civil works in the south for the Energy Ministry. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 27 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no QS/T/167. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Carrying out general maintenance works to roads and squares at Mubarak al-Kabeer for the Public Works Ministry. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 24 December.

  • KUWAIT

    Tender no QS/T/165. (Open to prequalified contractors only.) Carrying out general maintenance works to roads and squares at Jahra governorate for the Public Works Ministry. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 24 December.Details on payment of KD 1,750 from Central Tenders Committee, PO Box 1070, Safat 13011, telephone (965) 2401200, fax (965) 2416574.

  • KUWAIT

    CD extension. Tender no RFP/1382. Enhancement of effluent water disposal facilities in the southeast.Details from Kuwait Oil Company, Reception Office, Purchase Dept, Ahmadi Industrial Area, Ahmadi.

  • Kuwait government gets tough on corruption

    After years of inaction, Kuwait's government is finally getting tough. In the space of two weeks in early December, the government rocked the normally placid business community by acting on State Audit Bureau (SAB) recommendations to cancel four private sector contracts.

  • KUWAIT REAL ESTATE BANK: Dual conversion

    The process of converting a conventional bank into a fully sharia-compliant institution is a long and complicated one. But Kuwait Real Estate Bank (KREB) is undertaking the difficult reform at the same time as a second revolutionary change abandoning its 33-year-old status as a specialist real estate lender to become a full commercial bank. 'This must be some sort of world record,' says general manager Adil Ahmad, who joined the bank earlier in the year from ANZ Investment Bank. Towards the end

  • KUWAITI TELECOMS: No call for change

    Kuwait may have to wait a little longer for a third operator. Seven months after a fresh draft law paved the way for a newcomer, the Communications Ministry shows no sign of releasing any further plans. Incumbents Wataniya and MTC claim to be as much in the dark as the public. Doubts are growing that the country needs a third operator at all. GSM penetration rates are already 107 per cent for a population of 2.5 million, suggesting there is little call for a new operator. Wataniya's subscrib

  • Kuwait's parliament rejects debt bill

    The Kuwaiti parliament on 19 December rejected legislation under which the government would pay off $27,000 million of citizens' private debts. The supporters of the bill argued that the government should write off the debts as a way of distributing recent record oil revenues. A total of 39 politicians voted against the bill, 20 were in favour and four abstained.

  • Labour: A fair day's wage

    Every day at dawn hundreds of buses crawl out of Sonapur on the Dubai-Sharjah border heading towards Dubai. Looking out of the windows are thousands of workers heading towards the emirate's construction sites, where they earn $2.75-$7 for a 12-hour shift. The same scene is being played out in other areas where labourers are housed, such as Jebel Ali and Al-Quoz.

  • Lebanese leaders meet Arab League chief

    Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa on 12 December met Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri in an effort to mediate between rival factions in the ongoing political standoff. 'I don't carry initiatives, but there are ideas that I hope to discuss,' Moussa said.Demonstrators in central Beirut continued to call for Siniora's resignation for the 12th consecutive day. The government says the pro-Syrian opposi

  • Lebanese opposition buries Shia protester

    Hundreds of mourners turned out on 5 December for the funeral of 21-year old Ahmed Mahmoud, a Shia protester shot dead in a Sunni neighbourhood of Beirut three days earlier. Mahmoud was returning from an opposition rally in Beirut when he was killed. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the only solution to the current crisis was dialogue. 'Otherwise our country will be a space for conflict for different factions and allies.' The local Al-Markasiyah news agency quoted General

  • LEBANON

    Carrying out new grade separation works at the Tayounneh roundabout as part of the urban transport development project's corridor improvement programme. The project consists mainly of a one-level grade separation one tunnel and two underpasses covering a total length of 650 metres between Omar Beyham street and the Old Saida road intersecting the Tayounneh roundabout. Financed by the Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development. Bid bond is $200,000.Details on payment of $2,000 from Cou

  • LEBANON

    Carrying out grade separation works at the Chiyah boulevard and Old Said rod (Mar Mekhayel) as part of the urban transport development project's corridor improvement programme. Financed by the Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development. Bid bond is $150,000.

  • LEBANON

    Tender no LBN/B7-4100/IB/97/0687/MSWA/09/06. Supply, in four lots of vehicles and containers including skid steer loaders, solid waste collection trucks and pick-up trucks as part of the MEDA 4 project. Financed by the EU. An optional information meeting will take place on 10 January 2007.

  • LIBYA: Tripoli plots reforms

    The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) is considering allowing local banks to launch international banking activities and invest abroad, deputy governor Mohammed Shokri told a conference in London on 11 December. '[Local] absorbing capacity is limited,' Shokri said. 'About 60 per cent of banking assets are liquid due to the lack of a business and investment climate.'

  • Limitless hits Moscow

    Dubai-based Limitless plans to build a $11,000 million mixed-use development in Russia. Known as Great Domodedovo, the project will be developed in partnership with Russia's Coalco. Located in the Moscow area, it will cover an area of 180 square kilometres.

  • Limitless plans Jumeirah Village tram system plans

    The local Limitless plans to build a tram system at its Jumeirah Village Circle development. The system will link towers at the development with the proposed metro station serving the development. Limitless is handling the project on behalf of local developer Nakheel (MEED 24:11:06).

  • Linde takes Borouge cracker

    Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) has awarded Germany's Linde the cracker package on its multi-billion-dollar project to expand its petrochemical complex in Ruwais. The contract is the first major award on the expansion (MEED 10:11:06).

  • Liquefied natural gas: Billion-dollar baby

    Dubai has rarely shied away from taking on challenges from the construction of the Middle East's largest port at Jebel Ali in the 1980s to the dredging of the world's biggest man-made island more than a decade later. Now the emirate has once again embarked on a new initiative: the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility which it claims will be the first of its kind in the world.

  • Loan bill courts controversy

    Members of the National Assembly (parliament) failed to pass a bill that would write off all commercial loans owed by nationals, after the government boycotted the parliamentary session.

  • Local grouping target Aghajari

    The local team of Chagalesh and Kayson Group has said it remains hopeful that it can land the estimated $800 million engineering, procurement and construction contract on the Aghajari gas reinjection project.

  • Locals seek arranger

    The local The Investment Dar (TID) is in discussions with international banks about arranging a planned sukuk issue. The company is also planning to start a ratings process with Moody's Investors Service by the end of the year. TID issued a $150 million sukuk in June (MEED 23:6:06).

  • Locals win exploration job

    The local Dindir Petroleum International (DPI) has signed an exploration and production sharing agreement (EPSA) with the Energy & Minerals Ministry for a 200,000-square-kilometre block in the northwest. DPI has a 15 per cent share in the block and, along with its five partners, will invest a minimum of $43 million over six years, shoot 3,000 kilometres of 2D seismic surveys and drill four wells. DPI is the largest oil field services company in Sudan.

  • Locals win Nuayyim work

    Saudi Aramco has awarded a group of the local Arab Company for Projects & Maintenance and Egypt's Petrojet the pipeline package on the Nuayyim field development project.

  • Locals win on Falcon City

    The local Ghantoot Transport & General Contracting has been awarded the earth works package on the Falcon City of Wonders development in Dubailand.The award is the first construction contract let on the development, which was launched in September 2005. The UK's Hyder is the infrastructure consultant (MEED 2:6:06).

  • Low-cost housing rolled out

    The government is planning to allocate as much as BD 300 million ($790 million) to affordable housing through the construction of new units and financial relief to homebuyers. The measures, announced by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa to mark National Day on 16 December, are part of a growing drive to ease housing shortages in the kingdom.The housing construction programme is due to include the phased addition of 13,500 units. Several major projects are already under way, the biggest being

  • Lukoil aims for Azadegan

    Russia's Lukoil says it is to join the team developing the Azadegan oil field, which was recently awarded to Naftiran Intertrade Company (Nico) after five years of talks with Japan's Inpex collapsed in October. The company has not said what size stake it will have in the field or what its role will be. Inpex retains a 10 per cent share. Azadegan is one of the largest undeveloped fields in Iran, alongside Yadavaran, for which China's Sinopec is negotiating a production deal. The project has suffe

  • Maersk picks McDermott for Al-Shaheen

    Jebel Ali-based J Ray McDermott (Middle East) has taken the estimated $125 million package 13 on the offshore Al-Shaheen oil field development project, under development by Maersk Oil Qatar. The contract covers the engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) of two wellhead topsides and related facilities.

  • Manazel plans Building City

    The local Manazel Real Estate and the local United Group Holdings have announced plans to jointly develop an estimated AED 4,000 million ($1,090 million) Building Material City in Abu Dhabi. The project will include 17 commercial towers, 32 residential towers, a hotel and a 100,000-square-metre shopping centre. It will be located on Mussafah road next to Mohammed bin Zayed City.The local International Capital Trading plans to build an estimated AED 400 million ($108 milli

  • Manifa bids submitted

    Five groups of local and international dredging companies submitted bids on 28 November to Saudi Aramco for the first major contract on the offshore Manifa oil field redevelopment project. The bidders for the $1,000 million-1,200 million dreging and reclamation contract are: a South Korean/Dutch team of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company and Van Oord Gulf; a local/Geneva-registered joint venture of Saudi Binladin Group and Archirodon Construction (Overseas); Royal Boskalis Westminster of

  • Marafiq powers up Yanbu

    Power & Water Utility Company for Jubail & Yanbu (Marafiq) is planning to build a new independent water and power project (IWPP) in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast. 'Its size has not yet been determined, but it will use light crude,' president and chief executive officer Thamir al-Sharhan told MEED on 12 November. 'We expect the tender process to be launched next year.'The new IWPP will supply water and electricity to Yanbu industrial city. The scheme will be implemented through a 20-year bu

  • Marafiq powers up Yanbu

    Power & Water Utility Company for Jubail & Yanbu (Marafiq) is planning to build a new independent water and power project (IWPP) in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast. 'Its size has not yet been determined, but it will use light crude,' president and chief executive officer Thamir al-Sharhan told MEED on 12 November. 'We expect the tender process to be launched next year.'The new IWPP will supply water and electricity to Yanbu industrial city. The scheme will be implemented through a 20-year bu

  • Mared is next for sale

    Bank Misr is selling its stake in Misr Ameria Real Estate & Development (Mared) in Cairo's largest privatisation since the sell-off of Bank of Alexandria to San Paolo IMI in October. Mared owns 36 square kilometres of industrial land in Alexandria. The bid deadline has been set for 9 January, at which point the three highest bidders will take part in an auction. Mared's 30 million shares have a nominal value of£E 10 ($1.75) each.

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: EGYPT: Stirring momentum

    The Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE) sits in between the bourses of Morocco and Saudi Arabia, in terms of both geography and performance, but its gentle rise since the beginning of the year belies a recent flurry of activity.

  • MARKET IN FOCUS: KUWAIT: Corruption crackdown shakes bourse

    Bad news for a number of blue-chip companies rocked the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) in early December, compounding the generally negative investor sentiment pervading GCC bourses.

  • Market tense ahead of OPEC meeting

    Oil prices climbed higher above $60 a barrel in the first week of December ahead of OPEC's meeting in Abuja on 14 December. The group's ministers continued to talk up the price with bullish statements on the need to cut, while US crude stocks registered an unexpectedly large draw. Spot Brent was trading at $64.24 a barrel on 6 December, compared with $62.40 a barrel a week earlier. OPEC ministers are making conflicting statements ahead of the gathering, bu

  • Marriott hotel gets three bids

    Bids are under consideration from three companies for the $100 million-150 million contract to build a new JW Marriott beachfront hotel in Club des Pins, 20 kilometres west of Algiers.China State Construction & Engineering Company, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company and Egypt's Arab Contractors (Osman Ahmed Osman & Company) have submitted proposals to Societe de Developpement Hotelier, a consortium of the local Societe d'Investissement Hotelier and Libyan Foreign

  • Marubeni trades locally

    Abu Dhabi's General Holding Company (GHC) and Japan's Marubeni Corporation have signed a joint venture agreement to set up a new trading company in Abu Dhabi. The new company, in which GHC will hold a 60 per cent stake and Marubeni the remaining 40 per cent, will initially focus on importing raw materials and exporting finished products to support the emirate's growing industrial base.

  • Mecca project planned

    A local private developer is planning to build a small city located on the Mecca-Medina expressway. Known as the Bahra land project, the scheme will be developed in three phases over four years. Each phase will include residential and light industry elements as well as municipal buildings. Phase 1 is due to begin in 2007. The entire scheme covers an area of about 12.5 square kilometres. The US' Creative Kingdom is the design consultant.

  • Medgaz export pipeline project inaugurated

    The $750 million Medgaz project to build a gas pipeline under the Mediterranean from Algeria to Spain was officially launched on 28 November with the signing of the final concession agreement between the international Medgaz project company and state energy company Sonatrach.

  • Medgaz still on track despite withdrawals

    The final investment decision (FID) for the billion-dollar Medgaz project to build a gas pipeline from Algeria to Spain will be made by the end of December, despite the withdrawal of two key partners from the project, senior project sources have told MEED. 'The withdrawals will have no impact,' says Medgaz chairman Pedro Miro. 'We are still on target to sign the FID by the end of the year.'

  • Media: Pushing boundaries

    It is a refreshing change for newspaper readers across the federation. After years of stagnation, monopolistic behaviour and self-censorship, the last three years have seen the media market grow up.

  • MEDINA: Gridlock in the holy city

    It's not easy being one of the holiest cities in Islam. The streets are pounded daily by a steady flow of pilgrims. Real estate is becoming ever more lucrative as private investors look to tap into the rising number of visitors and residents. The city is also aiming to become a hub for research and development through the creation of a new city on its outskirts. Like the rest of the Gulf's booming economic cities, the strain is being felt.

  • Melrose drills in Egypt

    Edinburgh-based Melrose Resources announced on 11 December details of its exploration programme at the Southeast el-Mansoura concession in the Nile Delta. Its West Dikirnis 4 appraisal well tested at 1,930 barrels a day (b/d) of oil and has been temporarily shut in. It is expected to be a production well. In the El-Tamad field, the seventh appraisal well was drilled to 10,400 feet and tested at a flow rate of 860 b/d and 870 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas, while the fourth well teste

  • Mesaieed power project finance moves forward

    Banks are awaiting formal approaches on participating in the estimated $1,700 million financing of the Mesaieed independent power project (IPP). A sub-underwriting group of six-eight institutions is likely. Calyon is providing bank support to Japan's Marubeni Corporation, which received a letter of commitment for the project in mid-October (MEED 3:11:06).

  • Metals sell-off continues

    Cairo's liberalisation programme is gathering pace as it continues its strategy of selling off public stakes in industrial metallurgical companies.

  • MetalServ wins gas line

    Saudi Aramco awarded in late November the downstream gas pipeline package on the Khurais crude increment programme to the local Metal Services for Trading & Contracting Company (MetalServ).

  • Methanol loan signed

    International Methanol Company, a subsidiary of Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem), signed a SR 535 million ($142.7 million) loan on 10 December with Banque Saudi Fransi, Riyad Bank and SABB. The 10-year, Islamically structured facility refinances a conventional loan taken out in 2003. HSBC with SABB acted as financial adviser. Sipchem is due to sign a $550 million, 12-year debt package for its acetyls complex at Jubail in mid-December (MEED 20:10:06).

  • Metro operator nears

    L'Entreprise du Metro d'Alger is evaluating bids from companies to operate and manage the Algiers metro. An award is due to be made by year-end. French and Italian companies are understood to have submitted offers. Line 1 of the metro project, which comprises a nine-kilometre, 10-station line between Tafourah and Hai el-Badr, is scheduled for completion by the end of 2008. A French team of Systra and RATP Development is the systems work consultant for line 1 (MEED 7:1:06).

  • Militant blows himself up on Syrian border

    A leader of the Syrian Tawhid & Jihad group linked to Al-Qaeda blew himself up on the border with Lebanon after a gun battle with security forces. Omar Abdullah attempted to cross into Lebanon using fake documents, a Syrian Interior Ministry statement said. The statement said Abdullah fired shots at security forces before trying to flee the Jdaidat Yabous crossing. A hand grenade he was carrying exploded as he tried to escape. He was carrying nine sets of identification do

  • Ministry calls for emergency capacity

    The Ministry of Energy (Electricity & Water) has approached local trading houses for the development of emergency power stations in a further sign of the looming electricity shortage in the state. The ministry has asked for the new capacity to be installed as soon as April next year in advance of peak summer power demand.'The situation is at crisis point,' says a local power contractor. 'The following year will be even worse if additional capacity is not installed.'Kuwait has an

  • Ministry signs off privatisation contracts

    The Ministry of Water & Electricity has signed three consultancy contracts for the partial privatisation of the Jeddah water distribution and sewage treatment networks.

  • Moody's upgrades locals

    Moody's Investors Service has assigned A3 long-term and Prime-2 short-term local currency ratings to Banque Marocaine de Commerce Exterieur. The bank's foreign currency rating was affirmed at Ba2/NP and its financial strength rating at D+. Moody's attributed the upgrade to the high likelihood of government support in the event of a default and improved financial performance.

  • More Kayan work offered

    Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company has given international contractors until 3 December to submit technical proposals for the amines unit on its estimated $8,000 million Jubail petrochemicals complex (MEED 21:4:06).

  • More time for developers

    Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company has extended the bid closing date by two months for the build-own-operate contract for two greenfield sewage treatment plants at Al-Wathba in Abu Dhabi and Al-Saad in Al-Ain. Proposals are now due by 28 March, with a shortlist set for early May, and targeted financial close scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2007. About 11 companies are prequalified to bid for the work (MEED 6:10:06).

  • More time for Duqm bids

    The bid closing date has been extended by six weeks for the main marine package on the Duqm port project. Bids are now due by 5 February for the three-year project, which involves dredging and reclamation and the construction of a breakwater and quay walls. The client is the Transport & Communications Ministry (MEED 1:9:06).

  • More time for sugar plant

    Aqaba Development Corporation has extended to mid-January the bid deadline for the build-operate-transfer contract for a new sugar refinery in Aqaba. Six companies are prequalified for the contract, including the UK's Tate & Lyle and US and German companies. The project involves the construction of a refinery at either the planned southern industrial zone (SIZ) on the Saudi border south of Aqaba or in an existing industrial site near the town (MEED 25:8:06).

  • More work let on Pearl GTL

    Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) has landed a $980 million construction contract on the Pearl GTL project. The award is the latest to be made on the multi-billion-dollar development by the client, the Royal Dutch/Shell Group (MEED 10:11:06).

  • Moscow accepts UN sanctions resolution

    Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov has said a draft UN resolution which would impose sanctions on Iran has addressed most of Moscow's concerns. 'The new resolution prepared by the EU 3 [France, Germany and the UK] that is now being discussed in the Security Council has to a large extent taken into account our approaches,' Lavrov said. 'We are counting on being able to come to a consensus decision in the UN Security Council that will prompt the Iranians to sit down t

  • Moscow could help, says Siniora

    Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said Russia could help to mediate between Beirut and Damascus. Siniora on 14 December arrived in Moscow for meetings with Russian President Putin. The two leaders will discuss relations between Syria and Lebanon before Syrian President Asad arrives in Moscow 18 December. 'We want to settle our relations with Syria,' Siniora said. 'I think that Russia could take certain efforts in that direction.'Hezbollah

  • Mosque air-con bids in

    The Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques is evaluating bids from at least three companies to provide air-conditioning for the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The project is valued at about $1,000 million.

  • Mott wins pipeline work

    The UK's Mott MacDonald has started work on the front-end engineering and design (FEED) for a new multi-products pipeline, running from the Mesaieed refinery to the New Doha International Airport. The FEED contract, due to be completed next August, has been placed by Qatar Petroleum.

  • Moussa optimistic on Lebanon

    Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa says he has made headway on a deal between Lebanon's rival factions. 'In my estimation, there is a great hope that we will reach something [an agreement] on the various issues,' Moussa said on 13 December, following talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. 'When I speak of progress, it is progress in the whole package, saying his talks with Lebanese leaders addressed the current government crisis as well as other issues.

  • Muscat raises questions on single currency timetable

    Muscat has thrown uncertainty on the timetable for GCC monetary union by announcing that it will not adopt the proposed single currency at its scheduled launch in 2010. Riyadh added further doubts by reiterating its reservations about the convergence timetable.

  • Muscat set for mega mall

    The local Tilal Development Company (TDC) is pressing ahead with the construction of the country's largest shopping mall. The scheme is part of the Tilal residential complex, located in Muscat's Al-Khuwair district.

  • Muslim pilgrims begin Hajj

    An estimated three million Muslims were expected to begin the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca on the 28 December ahead of the ritual's final day on 1 January. Saudi Arabian authorities claimed they have improved safety measures for the pilgrimage following the disasters of recent years that have left hundreds of pilgrims dead. 'We hope this year's Hajj will not witness any incidents,' said Saudi Interior Minister Price Nayef. New measures include a quota system to restrict the number

  • Naeem buys into the UAE

    Egyptian financial services company Naeem Holding is in the final stages of signing a shareholder agreement with Commercial Bank International to establish a corporate finance and asset management company in the UAE capitalised at AED 100 million ($27 million). Naeem Investments is expected to launch in the first quarter of next year (MEED 13:10:06).The company recently acquired a brokerage in the UAE, Naeem Shares & Bonds, and further expansion is planned. 'We will also set up a private

  • Najmat starts Reem work

    The local National Projects & Construction has started grading works for the $8,000 million Najmat Abu Dhabi development on Reem island. The client, Reem Developers, is also preparing to issue tenders for the first marine works package, which will involve dredging, canals and revetments. The infrastructure consultant is the UK team of Hyder Consulting with Halcrow. Malaysia's KLCC Holdings is the project manager. The US' RNL has prepared the masterplan (MEED 23:6:06).

  • Nakheel sukuk lists

    Local developer Nakheel's $3,520 million sukuk listed on 14 December on the Dubai International Financial Exchange. The sukuk is the largest ever issued, surpassing the $3,500 million Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation Islamic bond also listed on the bourse. The listing brings the value of sukuks on the bourse to more than $7,500 million (MEED 27:10:06).

  • Nakilat launches bond for tanker finance

    Qatar Gas Transportation Company (Nakilat) has launched roadshows for a planned 144a bond issue being lead managed by Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers. The fixed-rate paper with an amortising structure is aimed mainly at US investors and forms part of Nakilat's $4,300 million broader funding package (MEED 17:11:06).

  • National Air Services in brand talks with EasyJet

    The local National Air Services (NAS) and the UK's EasyJet are in talks to bring the budget brand to the Gulf. A final decision is not expected until early next year, an easyJet spokesperson confirmed to MEED on 11 December.

  • NCB cuts loose asset management business

    The kingdom's largest bank in terms of capitalisation, ~National Commercial Bank (NCB)~, will spin off its asset management business into a separate company. 'We are looking to partner with regional and global players,' says NCB head of retail banking Louis Myers. 'I can identify 10 separate alliances we are in discussions about across the breadth of our business.' The bank has a paid-capital of SR 9,000 million ($2,399 million) and 255 branches in the kingdom.

  • Nepheline field extended

    A tender for the $200 million Sarab nepheline plant has been put back until the new year after delays at the prequalification stage. A tender had been expected in November. Iran Mines & Mineral Industries Development & Renovation Organisation and its consultant Kanikavan Shargh Engineering Company now aim to prequalify companies by the end of the Iranian year in March 2007. The complex will produce 200,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of alumina, 116,000 t/y of potassium carbonate, 36,000 t/y of sodium c

  • New development unveiled

    The local Barwa Real Estate Company has launched a new development in Qatar called the Ain Khalid Commercial Development. Located in the Msemeer area, the estimated QR 3,500 million ($962 million) mixed-use project will comprise housing units, retail facilities and an exhibition centre.

  • New Iran resolution introduced

    The UK and France were due to introduce on 11 December a revised UN Security Council draft Iran sanctions resolution. Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov praised the new version of the resolution. Moscow had rejected the original draft, saying the sanctions were too harsh. The revised draft was circulated to members of the Security Council on 8 December. It limits bans to the most dangerous potentially weapons-grade material and techn

  • New oil agencies planned

    Damascus is planning to establish a new company to have responsibility for the country's upstream oil and gas sector. The body will be established by fresh legislation covering the hydrocarbons sector being prepared by the cabinet.'Under discussion are plans for a new General Petroleum Organisation (GPO),' says a senior official at the Petroleum & Mineral Resources Ministry. '[The GPO] will be a new company within the ministry overseeing Syrian Petroleum Company, Syrian Company f

  • New pipeline work terms out

    State upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has invited 34 international contractors to submit bids by 16 January for the contract to install the gas-oil fuel pipeline between the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery and the planned Subiya power plant. An award is due by the end of May.

  • New refinery deadline

    The bid deadline has been extended to 17 December for the new refinery project at Al-Zour, planned by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). The extension follows the release of an addendum, which reduces the warranty and increases the permitted construction period on some aspects of the project (MEED 24:11:06).

  • No use talking to Syria, says Chirac

    French President Chirac said that Paris and Washington were in agreement that there is no point in talking to Syria in the present situation. Speaking after a NATO summit in Latvia, Chirac said he was always in favour of honest dialogue based on a commitment to carry out what was agreed. 'In the current state of affairs, this is not exactly the characteristic of the dialogue which some European countries have started with Syria,' Chirac said. 'I deplore that I understand that the America

  • Non-royal set to be next Saudi ambassador in Washington

    Media reports on 21 December said Adel al-Jubeir, former foreign affairs adviser to King Abdullah, will be the next ambassador to the US. Unlike previous ambassadors in Washington, Al-Jubeir is not a member of the royal family. The post in Washington has been empty since 11 December, when Prince Turki al-Faisal resigned suddenly after only 15 months in office. The embassy said Prince Turki would return to the kingdom to spend more time with his family (

  • Nuclear politics: Atomic bombshell

    The final communique from the annual GCC summit usually makes for familiar reading. The leaders of the six Arab states of the Gulf invariably call for a fair and just settlement of the Palestinian issue, urge Iran to resolve its islands dispute with the UAE and voice their concerns about the spiralling levels of violence in Iraq.

  • Nuclear stand-off stalls iron plant

    Mounting international tensions over Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme have led to new delays on the Gohar Zamin mining, iron and steel project as prospective bidders struggle to secure finance for the scheme. The bid deadline for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract has been put back for a sixth time to 23 December to allow bidders more time to prepare bids and secure finance (MEED 29:9:06).Gohar Zamin Iron Ore Company asked bidders to bring their own finance

  • Offerings: Piling up

    Investor enthusiasm for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the GCC is alive and well, highlighting the widening divergence between the primary and secondary markets. In the first nine months of 2006, demand for new shares outstripped supply 47 times even in the face of an ongoing stock market correction. 'The fundamentals of the IPO market are still there,' says Loulwa Bakr, vice-president of Jeddah-based The Capital Group. 'There's liquidity and a will to invest.'

  • Office park under study

    Local developer Dubai Properties plans to build a AED 6,000 million ($1,635 million) business park in Dubailand. Known as Tijara Town, the development will be built on a 1.8-square-kilometre plot and will include offices, showrooms, warehouses, apartments and two four-star hotels. Completion is expected by the end of 2008 (MEED 24:11:06).

  • Oger enrols at UAE University

    Saudi Oger has been awarded the estimated AED 1,500 million ($408 million) construction contract for phases 1-3 on the new UAE University campus project in Al-Ain. The contract involves the construction of the majority of the university buildings.

  • Oil companies examine implications of new tax

    International oil companies are reviewing their positions in the country in advance of the introduction of new oil taxes in 2007. The news follows the unveiling by Algiers of windfall taxes on foreign oil investors, capitalising on current high oil prices. In mid-December, Algiers confirmed the introduction of windfall charges between 5 and 50 per cent on exceptional profits for as long as the price of oil remains above $30 a barrel.'We are calculating the new level of ta

  • OIL SERVICES: Lagging behind

    Riyadh is keen to encourage local companies to participate in the oil sector, and is looking abroad for examples. Research by the Petroleum & Mineral Resources Ministry to this end is expected to be complete in early 2007.

  • Oil shale study awarded

    The Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA) has appointed a Canadian consortium led by Alberta-based Centurion Energy International to carry out a feasibility study into the country's oil shale deposits. The study will assess the volume of oil shale reserves and examine how the deposits can best be extracted. Earlier studies by the EMRA carried out in co-operation with Berlin University put Egypt's oil shale reserves at about 5,700 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) with about 4,500 mil

  • Oil workers targeted in Algeria

    A roadside attack on two buses in Bouchaoui, west of Algiers, left one person dead and nine more injured on 10 December. Reports said the first bus was hit by a bomb after which gunmen opened fire on the second vehicle. The buses were carrying employees of the US' Brown & Root Condor - a joint venture of the US' Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton. UK, US, Canadian and Lebanese nationals were among those wounded in the incident.

  • OIL: Incremental change

    Saudi Aramco has several weapons in its arsenal which it employs to retain its over-riding position as the world's largest oil company and OPEC's unchallenged leader.

  • Old entity loses ratings

    International rating agency Moody's Investors Service has withdrawn the ratings of Misr International Bank (MIBank). The bank ceased to exist as a legal entity on 30 November after the acquisition of a 90.7 per cent stake by National Societe Generale Bank in 2005. Misr International had assets in June 2006 of£E 17,700 million ($3,100 million).

  • Olmert hints at Israel's nuclear capability

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on 12 December appeared close to admitting his country holds nuclear weapons. Speaking on German television, Olmert said Israel did not threaten 'any nation with annihilation' - unlike Iran, which has threatened to obliterate Israel. 'Can you say that this is the same level, when they [Iran] are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?'A spokesperson for Olmert denied that this was a

  • Olmert offers prisoner exchange

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on 27 November said he was ready to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a soldier abducted by militants in June. Olmert was speaking one day after Palestinian and Israeli leaders agreed to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. 'I hold out my hand in peace to our Palestinian neighbours in the hope that it won't be returned empty,' Olmert said. Despite the ceasefire, Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets into Israel. In the lat

  • OMAN

    Tender no 189/2006. Design and construction of track roads at the western part of Jabal al-Abiyad, Wilayat Dima Wa, at Taiyyin, in Al-Sharqiyah, for the Transport & Communications Ministry.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 195/2006. Dualisation of the Al-Muladdah to Al-Hazm road in the Al-Batinah region for the Transport & Communications Ministry.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 190/2006. Provision of cleaning and pest control services at Sultan Qaboos University and University Hospital from April 2007 until December 2010.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 201/2006. Implementation of the Higher Institute of Justice in Nizwa for the Justice Ministry.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 204/2006. Upgrading of the existing Al-Amrat substation for the Muscat Electricity Distribution Company.Details, available until 17 January, on payment of RO 425 from Tender Board, PO Box 787, PC 133, Al-Khuwair, telephone (96824) 602073, fax (96824) 602063.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 196/2006. Provision of a new terminal pier at Seeb International Airport for Oman Airport Management Company.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 197/2006. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of Oman Gas Company pipelines.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 188/2006. Construction of asphalt roads in Al-Hallaniyat island for the Transport & Communications Ministry.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 186/2006. Carrying out a proposed extension to a health centre at Sohar for the Health Ministry.Details, available until 20 December, on payment of RO 1,400 from Tender Board, PO Box 787, PC 133, Al-Khuwair, telephone (96824) 602073, fax (96824) 602063.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 187/2006. Carrying out a proposed extension to a health centre at Nizwa for the Health Ministry.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 203/2006. Carrying out the Hasik Ash Shuwaymiyah asphalt road project for the Transport & Communications Ministry.Details, available until 10 January, on payment of RO 1,500 from Tender Board, PO Box 787, PC 133, Al-Khuwair, telephone (96824) 602073, fax (96824) 602063.

  • OMAN

    Tender no 205/2006. Construction of a 33-kV feeder from the Jahloot grid substation to Al-Shahbari in Quriyath in Muscat for the Muscat Electricity Distribution Company.Details, available until 17 January, on payment of RO 1,250 from Tender Board, PO Box 787, PC 133, Al-Khuwair, telephone (96824) 602073, fax (96824) 602063.

  • OPEC agrees production cuts

    OPEC has agreed to cut oil output by 500,000 barrels a day (b/d) from 1 February, OPEC president Edmund Daukoru said in Abuja on 14 December. Oil prices rose by 2.2 per cent following the announcement. The reduction comes after the organisation announced a 1.2 million-b/d cut in Doha on 20 October. OPEC also announced that Angola would join the oil cartel on 1 January, making it the first country to accede to the organisation since Gabon in 1975.

  • OPEC appoints Al-Badri

    Abdallah al-Badri, former chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), has been appointed OPEC secretary-general, filling a three-year old vacancy. He was appointed at the producer group's meeting in Nigeria on 14 December. He will serve for three years, starting from 1 January. OPEC has been without a secretary-general because ministers have been unable since 2003 to agree on a replacement for Venezuela's Alvaro Silva. Al-Badri was removed as head of NOC during a cabinet reshuffle in Mar

  • Operator seeks expertise

    Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is seeking an international consultant for a three-year management consultancy contract to assist its management support group (MSG). The state upstream operator has given international companies until 12 December to submit bids for the contract, which includes advising on the preparation of new projects.

  • Operators shortlisted for Dubai Metro contract

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has shortlisted three groups for the operation and maintenance contract on Dubai Metro. The bidders are: the UK's Serco; Singapore's SBS Transit with Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and France's RATP; and Singapore's SMRT. An award is expected in the first quarter of 2007. The successful operator is likely to be given a 10-year mandate with an option for a further five years (MEED 6:10:06).The RTA has also revealed details of two further ex

  • Orascom ups Djezzy stake

    Egypt's Orascom Telecom has acquired a further 1.2 per cent in its local subsidiary Orascom Telecom Algerie (Djezzy) for $61 million. The purchase, part of Orascom's strategy to buy out minority shareholdings in its subsidiaries, brings its holding in the company to 98.6 per cent. Orascom in October bought a 7.9 per cent stake in Djezzy, the largest mobile phone network in Algeria, for $399 million (MEED 3:11:06).

  • OxyVinyls picked to provide Petrokemya unit technology

    The US' OxyVinyls has been selected by the local Arabian Petrochemical Company (Petrokemya) to supply vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) technology for its planned vinyl complex expansion in Jubail (MEED 12:5:06).Under the terms of the contract, OxyVinyls, a joint venture of Occidental Chemical Corporation and PolyOne Corporation, will license its proprietary technology for the VCM unit, which will have a capacity of 550,000 tonnes a year (t/y).The plant will be fed with ethylene dichl

  • Palestinian deaths treble in one year

    An Israeli human rights monitoring group claimed on 29 December that three times as many Palestinians had been killed by Israeli security forces in 2006 than in the previous year. B'Tslem said that 660 Palestinians had been killed in 2006, a figure that included 141 children. Of these, more than 300 were claimed to have taken no part in hostile acts against Israel. During the same period, 23 Israelis were killed by Palestinian attacks compared with 50 in the previous year. B'Ts

  • Palestinian judge shot dead in Gaza

    A Palestinian judge was killed by gunmen in the town of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on 13 December. Bassam al-Fara, who was also a member of Hamas, was dragged out of a taxi outside a courthouse and shot dead. Hamas has blamed members of the rival Fatah for the killing. Fatah rejects the allegations. 'The brothers in Hamas must be accurate and not fire accusations before the investigation,' Fatah spokesperson Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said. Fara is th

  • Palestinians call on Haniya to stay

    Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters in Gaza on 8 December called on Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya to stay in office and lead a unity government if it is formed. 'We want you [Haniya] to be the prime minister,' Ismail Rudwan, a Hamas spokesman, told the rally. 'We will not abandon your leadership of the cabinet. We demand the leadership of Hamas retain… Ismail Haniya as head of the government and head any coming government.'Riv

  • Palestinians to be paid by Qatar

    Qatar has promised to pay the salaries of 40,000 Palestinians working in the education sector, said Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya in Doha on 3 December. Haniya said Qatar had pledged to pay more than $22 million a month. Haniya said Qatar was also considering paying $7 million a month to health workers. The Palestinian government has been unable to pay public sector employees' wages since Western donors imposed a financial embargo on the territories following Ha

  • Palm to get Sheba resort

    Kuwait's IFA Hotels & Resorts plans to build a $1,000 million resort on the crescent of Palm Jumeirah. Known as the Kingdom of Sheba, the 141,500-square-metre development will include residences, a hotel and a retail plaza.

  • PARTNERING PROFILE: The first offspring

    David Mosey is a big fan of partnering. Having worked on numerous UK partnering agreements, as well as authoring the PPC 2000 the first standard partnering contract of its kind in Britain he is convinced that the arrangement can deliver significant time and cost savings. 'Partnering has been demonstrated to work in the UK,' the head of projects and construction at London-based legal firm Trowers & Hamlins says. 'There is no reason why it should not work in the Gulf.'The regional constr

  • Pelletising mandate let

    Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) has been appointed sole mandated lead arranger (MLA) on a $400 million loan for Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) to fund the expansion of the company's pelletising plant at Hidd.

  • Petro-Canada to start exploration work

    Calgary-based Petro-Canada is to start exploration and production at three sites around the country over the first six months of next year.

  • PETROCHEMICALS: Heading downstream

    Polycarbonates, phenols, engineering plastics and thermoplastic olefins are not words that easily trip off the tongue, but they are becoming increasingly talked about in Saudi Arabia, where petrochemicals producers are continuously looking to move into new products. As the kingdom consolidates its position as the leading bulk petrochemicals commodities producer of the 21st century, a new wave of hitherto untouched speciality products is being developed.

  • Petrofac acquires Chergui

    UAE-based Petrofac Resources has reached agreement on the acquisition of a 45 per cent interest in the offshore Chergui gas concession from state oil company Entreprise Tunisienne d'Activites Petrolieres (ETAP). In addition to a cash consideration of about $30 million, the company will invest an estimated $20 million in the completion of production facilities on the field, which is due to come on stream in 2007.

  • Petrofac scoops gas train

    The local Khalda Petroleum Company has awarded UAE-based Petrofac International a $175 million lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a fourth gas processing train at its natural gas plant in Matruh. The local Petrojet will be involved as a subcontractor. The award on 30 November came two weeks after Petrofac won the contract to build the plant's third train (MEED 17:11:06).

  • Pivot wins Golf Gardens

    Local developer Sorouh Real Estate has awarded the local Pivot Engineering & General Contracting the estimated AED 725 million ($198 million) main construction contract on the Golf Gardens development. The contract covers the construction of 389 villas and townhouses on a 347,000-square-metre plot of land at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

  • Plastic sale covered

    The final subscription figures for the initial public offering of shares in Advanced Polypropylene Company have been released, with the share sale ending up 252 per cent covered. A total of SR 1,670 million ($445.3 million) was collected and 3.1 million nationals subscribed. On offer were 66.4 million shares priced at SR 10 ($2.67 MEED 8:12:06).

  • Political uncertainty delays Khartoum airport project

    Khartoum's failure to reach a peacekeeping deal with the UN over the troubled Darfur area has forced the Civil Aviation Authority to extend the deadline to build Khartoum New International Airport. According to sources close to the project, the government has been unable to offer financial guarantees to the prospective bidders due to the ongoing political uncertainty (MEED 28:7:06).

  • Port masterplan prepared

    Port Said Port Authority (PSPA) will relaunch in January the tender for the contract to prepare the masterplan for its Smart Port development in January 2007.The terms of reference for the masterplan have been amended since the original tender in 2005 and now include the development of the 87 square-kilometre industrial free zone behind the port and terminal site, as well as minor alterations, such as the introduction of information technology specifications, for the port. The original t

  • Prequals out for dredging

    Prequalification has been launched for the first phase dredging package on the Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone (KPIZ) at Taweelah in Abu Dhabi emirate.

  • Prices rise after cut

    Oil prices rose in the third week of December on the back of OPEC's decision to cut production further at the group's meeting in Abuja on 14 December. However, analysts doubted the genuine will and ability of members to deliver on the threat, muting the market impact. Spot Brent was trading at $62.71 a barrel on 20 December, compared with $61 a barrel a week earlier.

  • Private equity fund raising speeds up

    Regional private equity firms will raise about $10,000 million in investment capital this year, according to the KPMG/Gulf Venture Capital Association annual report 2006. The 2006 figure represents more than half of the $18,000 million total raised in the region since 1997 to acquire stakes in private companies.

  • Private placements: Alternative routes

    The vogue for going public is far from over in the Gulf. In spite of the post-Eid plunge of the region's secondary markets in November, initial public offerings (IPOs) during the downturn still ended up many times oversubscribed. But the climate is changing on regional bourses, as companies increasingly look to alternative channels for raising funds.

  • Prizes and pitfalls in the privatisation revolution

    A consortium led by Saudi Binladin Group is favoured to win the build-operate-transfer concession for the expansion of the Hajj terminal in Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport. It confirms that privatisation is spreading in the Middle East. It also highlights how much more must be done before it is an embedded part of the region's policy portfolio.

  • Probe threat to Eurofighter deal

    Riyadh is considering suspending talks with London over the estimated $21,000 million deal to buy 72 Typhoon fighter jets manufactured by Europe's Eurofighter consortium.Sources in the kingdom say that Riyadh is prepared to end negotiations because it is unhappy about a corruption investigation by the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The probe is focusing on contracts on the 20-year-old Al-Yamamah deal to supply Tornado fighter jets to the kingdom, signed between Riyadh and London in 198

  • Projects market: Capacity crunch triggers slowdown

    There are signs that the five-year long Gulf construction boom may have past its peak.

  • Property legislations in the GCC

    Buying property in the Gulf has never been so easy, even if finding a completed home is a challenge.

  • Prysmian lays new network

    Italy's Prysmian Cables & Systems has been awarded a contract to supply 6,300 kilometres of fibre optic cabling for a telecommunications network covering the north and west, including Tripoli.

  • Public-private advisory let

    A team of KPMG and Norton Rose has been awarded the mandate to provide financial and legal advice to the Ministry of Works & Housing on plans to use public-private partnership (PPP) in the provision of affordable housing. Other ministries were consulted on the selection and it is expected that the contract will lead to a wider-ranging mandate.The government has selected locations for the housing schemes, likely to include several thousand residences, and wants to use them as a test-bed f

  • Pushing reform

    This year will be remembered as a watershed for the UAE the year the government introduced the concept of democracy. Between 16 and 20 December, 6,689 electoral college members will vote to select half the members of the federation's only chamber, the Federal National Council (FNC). For a country with no history of democracy, the decision to hold elections is an important first step. 'We are not afraid of trying new things to find out what is best for our country,' says Ras al-Khaimah Crown Pri

  • Putin and Asad meet

    Syrian President Asad met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 19 December to discuss the situation in the Middle East. They agreed to co-operate in efforts to stabilise the region. 'The situation in the region remains tense,' Putin said. 'We see that the region is practically moving from one conflict to another, and that cannot but concern us.' Asad said Damascus was willing to enter into a dialogue with the US on how to defuse te

  • Qatalum awards smelter contract

    Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Norway's Hydro have made the first major award on their $4,500 million project to jointly develop a grassroots aluminium smelter at Mesaieed.Canada's SNC Lavalin has taken the $700 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the main buildings and related facilities on the Qatalum project. SNC will carry out the front-end engineering and design (FEED) package, which will then be converted to a lump sum contract to build the facilities at

  • Qatalum power bidders line up

    International contractors are preparing to submit engineering, procurement and construction bids in February for the captive power plant serving the grassroots Mesaieed smelter. The client, Qatalum, has prequalified eight groups, although not all are expected to bid for the 1,350-MW gas-fired plant (MEED 14:10:06).Prospective bidders include Paris-based Alstom Power, Germany's Siemens, the US' GE Energy and Japan's Marubeni Corporation with Spain's Iberdrola.In addition to the co

  • QATAR

    Tender no PWA/GTC/070s/06-07. Carrying out the Doha North sewerage treatment and associated works interceptor sewer civil project, 682/3. Bid bond is QR 6 million and performance bond is 10 per cent of contract price.

  • QATAR

    Tender no PWA/GTC/073/06-07. Development of roads in zone 51 earthworks only (EIC 0543 D1 C1).

  • QATAR

    CD extension. Tender no PWA/GTC/034/06-07. Construction of the Qatar primary routes north road project (contract 2&3 - ERC0638/C1B). Bid bond is QR 10 million.

  • QATAR

    CD extension. Tender no PWA/GTC/048/06-07. Construction of the new PS 25 civil project, no 678. Bid bond is QR 7 million.

  • QATAR

    Tender no GTC/06/270/MT. Stocking and supply of lubricating oil and grease on a call-off basis for a three-year period. Bid bond is QR 100,000.Details on payment of QR 1,000 from Qatar Petroleum, Materials Department, Room 30, Ground Floor, Qatar Navigation Plaza Building, C Ring Road, Doha.

  • QATAR

    Tender no 128/2006. Supply of permanent reservoirs and pumping station for Shahaniya to Dukhan. Bid bond is QR 2.5 million.Details on payment of QR 1,000 from Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa), Technical Affairs Section, Water Projects Department, Dafna.

  • QATAR

    Tender no 111/2006. Supply and erection of pre-cast boundary walls of reservoirs and tanker filling stations. Bid bond is QR 700,000.Details on payment of QR 1,000 from Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa), Technical Affairs Section, Operation & Maintenance Department, Dafna.

  • QATAR

    Tender no 113/2006. Carrying out general renovation works to reservoirs and tanker filling stations, package C. Bid bond is QR 400,000.Details on payment of QR 1,000 from Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa), Technical Affairs Section, Operation & Maintenance Department, Dafna.

  • Qatar National Bank wins full-service Kuwaiti licence

    Qatar National Bank (QNB) has been granted a licence by the Central Bank of Kuwait to open a full-service branch in the state. The approval is the first granted to a Qatari bank and forms part of wider expansion by QNB.

  • Qatari private bank plans IPO

    The initial public offering (IPO) of shares in Syrian International Islamic Bank (SIIB) will be launched by the end of December. On offer to local private investors will be 5.1 million shares at the price of £Syr 500 ($10) each. Subscription will be through both public and private banks.Foreign shareholders will have a 49 per cent stake in the new bank, which will have capital of $100 million. Qatar International Islamic Bank will have a 30 per cent share and private Qatari investors

  • Q-Chem seals refinance accords

    Commitment letters have been sent to a group of 17 banks on the refinancing of the Qatar Chemical Company (Q-Chem) debt. The deal was priced according to the sponsor's model, at a flat 40 basis points (bp) for the five-year remainder of the term.

  • Race begins for Fujairah 2

    Bidding has begun on the Fujairah 2 independent water and power project (IWPP), following the release of the request for proposals by Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA).

  • Rafsanjani criticises government's economic performance

    Expediency Council chairman and former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has attacked the government's economic performance and failure to reform.'According to the 20-year vision plan, an 8 per cent annual growth rate is expected,' he said at a conference in Tehran on 26 November. 'However, ever since the plan was declared [in 2004], the rate has been lower than expected, namely less than 6.5 per cent. Meanwhile, based on the plan, the role of government was expected to

  • Rail plant planned

    The local Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies is to build a rail production plant at Dammam in the Eastern Province. The estimated SR 1,000 million ($267 million) plant will have production capacity of 300,000 tonnes a year and aims to serve the numerous rail projects planned in the kingdom. Al-Tuwairqi is in negotiations with two European contractors, Germany's SMS Meer and Italy's Danieli, to build the plant. Construction of the plant is due to start in early 2007 and be completed by mid-2008.

  • RAILWAYS: Network development

    The dream is fast becoming a reality. The kingdom is embarking on its first railway in years and with it a massive transport restructuring programme has swung into action. Plans for a 2,400-kilometre north-south railway are well advanced. Excavation of more than 259 million cubic metres of earth in the Nufud is under way. And at the end of November, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is handling the scheme for the Finance Ministry, opened commercial prices for the first three main construct

  • Ras al-Khaimah: Sheikh Saud's mission

    Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al-Qassimi is in a reflective mood. Since 2003, the crown prince of Ras al-Khaimah has overseen a major overhaul of the emirate's economy. But despite the achievements of the last three years, Sheikh Saud believes the emirate is only at the beginning of a long process. 'We have just started. It's a long journey and we have achieved very little. We can achieve a lot more by developing different fields within the economy.'Tourism is central to his plans. By making the

  • Rasmala's real estate play

    Dubai-based Rasmala Investments and Saudi Arabia's Saeed Ahmed Baghlaf & Partners Holdings Group have established a SR 1,000 million ($266 million) real estate company. The new enterprise, iHilal Baghlaf Development Company, will undertake its first project in Dubai Technology, e-Commerce and Media Free Zone, where it will build a 36-storey office tower.

  • Recent award leads Suez to pull out of United Power

    Belgium's Suez Energy International has agreed to sell its 32.8 per cent stake in United Power Company (UPC) by 2009 at the request of the sector regulator, the Authority for Electricity Regulation. The request was made due to market restrictions, which state that no private company may control more than 25 per cent of the sultanate's generating capacity, and came in light of a Suez-led consortium being appointed by the developer on the estimated $800 million Barka 2/Rusayl independent water and

  • Red Crescent suspends Baghdad operations

    The Iraqi Red Crescent suspended on 18 December its operations in Baghdad following the capture of 30 people from its headquarters. Despite calls from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the release of all of the captives, only 13 had been released. 'We gave orders to our Baghdad staff to stop working until further notice,' said Mazen Abdallah, the secretary general of the Iraqi Red Crescent. 'We renew our calls for the release of the kidnapped persons.' Wit

  • Red Sea project moves on

    Sama Dubai has appointed Edaw Australia to masterplan a project on the Red Sea coast. The Dar al-Hikmat scheme involves construction of a residential and tourism community.

  • Red-Dead conveyor option moves forward

    The World Bank has secured additional funding for the feasibility study for the $800 million Red Sea-Dead Sea Conveyor project to save the Dead Sea.The study received up to $10 million of new funding following a meeting on 10 December attended by Water & Irrigation Minister Zafer Alem and Israeli, Palestinian and World Bank representatives. Canada, Spain and China are expected to support the project and the UK is expected to contribute funds, according to a senior ministry official.

  • Refinery effluent treatment work retendered

    State refinery operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has invited 15 international contractors to submit bids for the retendered contract to revamp effluent treatment facilities at its three refineries. The new bids on the estimated $150 million-250 million lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract are due by 20 February. The original tender was cancelled late last year after no offers were received (MEED 11:11:05). I

  • Refinery faces huge cost overrun

    State refinery operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) faces a stark choice on its grassroots Al-Zour refinery, after bids for the four main packages came in two-and-a-half times over the original budget.It now has to decide whether to go back to the drawing board. Opinion is divided on whether KNPC will now proceed. 'Ultimately, it will be building this refinery for domestic requirements,' says one contractor. 'For $15,000 million, you can buy as many refined products as

  • Refinery gains investors

    Four Japanese companies have signed agreements with Qatar Petroleum (QP) to become shareholders in Laffan Refinery Company. Idemitsu Kosan Company and Cosmo Oil Company have each taken a 10 per cent stake in the refiner, while Mitsui & Company and Marubeni Corporation have each acquired stakes of 4.5 per cent. As a result of the agreements, QP now holds a 51 per cent stake, and the US' ExxonMobil Corporation and France's Total, 10 per cent each. Laffan Refinery Company is due to commission in th

  • REFINING: New routes to refining

    Dhahran-based independent consultant Yahya al-Zaid has a reputation to defend. With a career spanning more than three decades with Saudi Aramco where he rose through the ranks to the position of vice-president Al-Zaid has recently been recalled from retirement.

  • Reformers hail election results

    Preliminary results in Iran's elections have been welcomed by reformists as a defeat for the government. 'The initial results of elections throughout the country indicate that [Iranian President] Ahmadinejad's list has experienced a decisive defeat nationwide, ' the Islamic Iran Participation Front said in a statement on 18 December. 'These results are tantamount to a big 'no' to the government's authoritarian and inefficient methods.' The Irania

  • Regulator mulls pricing change

    The Capital Market Authority (CMA) is in talks with international bankers and lawyers about changing the way shares are priced in initial public offerings (IPOs) in the kingdom. The CMA met representatives from Morgan Stanley, ABN Amro, Saudi Hollandi Bank, Bank of New York, Linklaters and the London Stock Exchange at the end of November to discuss the introduction of book-building to replace the fixed pricing of IPOs.'It was an informal session,' says Morgan Stanley vice-president Marc

  • RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT: Plugging the skills gap

    The Middle East lags far behind the developed world in research and development (R&D). The number of patents filed, engineers produced and research projects carried out in the Gulf is well below what the region’s average GDP would seem to dictate.

  • Resignations hit privatisation plan

    The government's attempts to reform the telecoms sector have been hit by new delays following the resignation of six cabinet ministers in mid-November.The crisis has forced Beirut to postpone the appointment of members of the long-awaited Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), the body which will deliver the privatisation of the country's telecoms sector by launching a tender for two GSM mobile phone licences, set for early 2007. Appointments were originally due in March this yea

  • Retendered M station brings in one extra bidder

    Technical and commercial offers were submitted on 5 December for the retendered Jebel Ali M power and desalination plant project. However, despite its reduced scope, only one additional company bid for the work (MEED 5:9:06).The project consists of two main packages. The first, package P, is for construction of a 1,200 MW power plant, while package D calls for the construction of a 70-million-gallon-a-day (g/d) multi-stage-flash (MSF) desalination unit.According to unevaluated bi

  • Review stalls Subiya work

    The Subiya power plant is the first casuality of Energy Minister Sheikh Ali al-Jarrah al-Sabah's review of the state's power and water strategy. The 1,500-MW project, due to have been built by a US/South Korean group of GE Energy and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), has been put on hold while the ministry considers ways to make projects more attractive to bidders.A spate of power and water shortages in the summer which exposed under-capacity prompted the review. Only two of the last six m

  • Rice holds Middle East peace talks

    US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with Palestinian Authority President Abbas in the West Bank town of Jericho on 30 November. Rice said she hoped a ceasefire agreed in Gaza a week earlier could form the basis for a comprehensive truce, while Abbas prioritised the lifting of international sanctions on the Palestinian Territories. Rice called for an easing of Palestinian 'humiliations' by Israel and said no actions that would pre-empt a final status agreement

  • Rising costs hit Sabic supply needs

    Spiralling construction costs have forced Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) to substantially increase its project cost and manpower projections.

  • Riyadh gives London ultimatum on BAE probe, says Telegraph

    Saudi Arabia has given the UK 10 days to end an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into an arms deal between BAE Systems and Riyadh or lose an estimated $21,000 million contract for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying on 1 December. The SFO is probing the 20-year-old Al-Yamamah deals to supply Tornado fighter jets to the kingdom.A spokesperson for the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office told Reuters the gov

  • Riyadh set to receive applications from insurers

    The first 13 insurance companies licensed in the kingdom under the 2002 insurance law have until 9 December to submit applications to the Capital Market Authority (CMA) for their initial public offerings (IPOs). The first flotation is expected by the end of January.

  • Riyadh sets another expansionist budget

    Riyadh is planning a further hike in spending during 2007, on the back of a widening budget surplus driven by continued high oil prices, according to the national budget, published by the Finance Ministry on 18 December. Preliminary figures for the current fiscal year show the surplus widening to SR 265,000 million 22 per cent higher than earlier estimates. Expenditure for 2007 is budgeted to rise by 13 per cent to SR 380,000 million and revenue by 3 per cent to SR 400,000

  • Riyadh will use all means to protect Iraq's Sunnis

    Saudi Arabia will use money, weapons or its oil power to protect Iraq's Sunnis from Shia militias if the US begins a premature withdrawal from Iraq, Nawaf Obaid a security adviser to Riyadh, wrote in the Washington Post on 29 November. 'To be sure, Saudi engagement in Iraq carries great risks - it could spark a regional war,' Obaid wrote. 'So be it: the consequences of inaction are far worse.''To turn a blind eye to the massacre of Iraqi Sunnis w

  • Road upgrade firms picked

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority has selected contractors for the upgrade of Ittihad road. They will convert the road corridor between Dubai and Sharjah into a major highway to relieve traffic congestion between the two emirates.

  • Roads tenders reissued

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority has reissued tender documents for the first phase of its parallel roads scheme. The closing date is 25 December. The package covers the improvement of two north-south corridors running between Sheikh Zayed road and Al-Khail road. De Leuw Cather International (DCI), part of US-based Parsons International, is the consultant (MEED 1:9:06).

  • Rotana targets northern hotels

    Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Hotel Management Corporation is in negotiations to operate three hotels to be built in the north of the country.The hotels, to be located in Irbil, Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk, aim to tap into the growing number of international business and domestic tourists visiting the north of the country. Last year, the region saw about 1.5 million visitors. With average room prices ranging from $200-500 a night, occupancy rates averaging about 90 per cent and a shortage of intern

  • Rule change aids share sale

    A late rule change to attract big investors has paid off for the final stock market listing of the year, in flooring firm Al-Abdullatif Industrial Investment Company (AIIC).The initial public offering (IPO) of shares in the company closed about 1.6 times oversubscribed on 18 December. Arranged by Samba Financial Group, the AIIC IPO offered 19.5 million shares priced at SR 42 ($11.20) each. Due to turbulent conditions on the Tadawul All-Share Index and fears of low demand from retail inv

  • Russia could support limited Iran sanctions

    Moscow is prepared to back sanctions against Iran, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. 'We are not against sanctioning Iran,' Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax news agency on 1 December. 'We have to concentrate in the UN Security Council on prohibiting supply to Iran of technologies, materials and services related to the areas of concern.' Speaking at a news conference during a visit to Jordan, Lavrov explained that Russia was against any oth

  • Russian group leads Shuqaiq bidders

    The Russian/local venture of Stroytransgaz and Aziz European Pipe Company is low bidder for all three main construction packages on the giant Shuqaiq water transmission system. The client, Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), will take about four months to evaluate bids.

  • Russians dominate round

    Russian oil companies have taken four out of seven areas awarded in Tripoli's third oil and gas exploration licensing round, which was characterised by waning interest from the oil majors.

  • Russians plan rebar mill

    Russia's Metalloinvest Holding plans to invest $156 million in a steel rolling mill at Hamriyah in Sharjah. The plant will produce 1 million tonnes a year (t/y) of steel reinforcing bars and will take two years to build. The company hopes to supply 25 per cent of the local market. The UK's McLellan & Partners has conducted a feasibility study for the project. The project is the latest steel plant planned at Hamriyah. Saudi Arabia's Al-Tuwairqi Group (ATG) is building a profile factory, a direct

  • Ruwais takes the high road to GCC economic convergence

    The traffic quickens west of Abu Dhabi where the highway to Ruwais narrows to two lanes and speed cameras aren't yet found. Loaded trucks thunder towards the booming markets of Saudi Arabia. The main feature in a flat desert landscape is a limestone cliff that traces the coastline before the sea retreated during the last Ice Age. At night, it's pitch black.

  • Saadiyat dredger picked

    Belgium's Jan de Nul has been awarded the Saadiyat island dredging and reclamation contract. Valued at $220 million, the two-year contract involves the dredging and reclamation of 35 million cubic metres of material. The client is the local Tourism Development & Investment Company. The consultant is US-based Parsons International (MEED 10:11:06).

  • Sabic: An appetite for acquisition

    When it was set up in 1976, there were some who believed that Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) would prove to be little more than a costly white elephant. It made little sense, the sceptics argued, for the world's largest oil exporter to nurture a downstream petrochemicals industry. Why spend much-needed budget revenues on the utilisation of natural gas, when it could be flared at practically no cost?

  • Saddam lawyers told to collect belongings

    Defence lawyers for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein claimed on 29 December that they had been asked to collect his personal belongings ahead of his execution. Saddam is expected to be hanged within 30 days following the failure of his appeal against the sentence after being found guilty of responsibility for the killings of almost 150 Kurds in one village in 1982. However, a government official in Baghdad denied reports that Saddam had already been handed over to Iraqi cu

  • Saddam loses final appeal

    An Iraqi court ruled on 27 December that the death sentence imposed on former president Saddam Hussein will stand and that the sentence is to be carried out within 30 days. Saddam was found guilty of charges relating to the killing of hundreds of Shia inhabitants of the town of Dujail in 1982. 'We were not at all surprised,' said chief defence lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi. 'As this has been a 100 per cent political trial'. Saddam claims the punishment will confirm his staus as a ma

  • Saddam returns to court

    Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein returned to court on 6 December despite saying a day earlier that he would not attend any more hearings. In a letter to the court, Saddam had said he would not suffer the 'continued insults' by the chief judge and the prosecution. 'I ask you to relieve me from attending the sessions of this new farce and you can do whatever you want,' Saddam wrote.Saddam and six other defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of war crimes and crim

  • Saddam trial resumes

    Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein returned to court on 27 November where he faces charges of genocide for his role in the 1980s Anfal campaign, which targeted Iraq's Kurdish population. The trial resumed after a two-week break. Six co-defendants, including Saddam's cousin known as Chemical Ali, are also on trial. Observers say the court is hoping to complete the trial before Saddam is executed. He was sentenced to death by hanging for his part in the assassination of 148

  • Sahara reveals plant plans

    The local Sahara Petrochemical Company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) to jointly develop an ethylene dichloride (EDC) and chlor alkali facility in Jubail. The 50:50 joint venture will tender soon the project management consultancy (PMC) contract, with expressions of interest for the contract submitted on 30 November.The worldscale complex will comprise two main process units a caustic chlorine plant and an EDC unit. The former will be

  • Saipem wins drilling work

    The local Burullus Gas Company has awarded Italy's Saipem a contract to provide offshore drilling services on its West Delta Deep Marine concession in the Mediterranean. The contract is expected to run from the third quarter of 2007 until the third quarter of 2009. Burullus is a joint venture of the UK's BG Group, Egyptian Natural Gas Company (EGAS) and Malaysia's Petronas. The contract follows the award of Burullus' $400 million offshore expansion package to Saipem in August (MEED 11:8:06).

  • Salalah capacity hiked

    The size of the proposed Salalah independent water and power project (IWPP) has been substantially increased. The IWPP will now have generating capacity of about 400 MW up from the original 150 MW; the desalination component will remain unchanged at about 10 million gallons a day. As a result of the capacity increase and studies on the site location, developers are unlikely to be invited to bid for the build-own-operate project until March/April. The advisory team of Salalah is made up of BNP Pa

  • Sale-Rabat tram takes shape

    The Bouregreg Valley Development Agency is pressing ahead with plans to build a tram network linking Rabat with Sale. Consultants have until 12 December to submit offers for the design and construction supervision contract.

  • Sanaa sets out investment priorities

    Sanaa is to invest some $12,600 million on projects over the next four years as it seeks to boost GDP growth by more than 7 per cent a year.

  • Saudi ambassador quits Washington

    Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, resigned on 12 December, having spent only 15 months in his post. Saudi officials said he has decided to return to the kingdom to spend time with his family. The surprise move has led to speculation about the reason for Prince Turki's departure, ranging from a fall-out with Riyadh over the direction of Saudi foreign policy to the suggestions that he may be in line for promotion to a higher office.

  • SAUDI ARABIA

    Supply of steel pipe for phase 3 of the Marafiq water transmission system project.

  • SAUDI ARABIA

    Carrying out construction works for phase 2 of the Marafiq water transmission system project.

  • SAUDI ARABIA

    Tender no POM A-2027. Carrying out operation and maintenance (O&M) of solid waste collection, disposal and general sanitation services (follow-on no 9). The scope of works comprises three years' provision of all labour and materials necessary to collect and dispose of solid waste materials within Madinat Yanbu al-Sinaiyah and also includes cleaning and sweeping of public areas and janitorial and pest control services.

  • SAUDI ARABIA

    Tender no SH-R-E-065. Carrying out a major overhaul of electric overhead cranes in Shuaiba plants, phase 1, and at the Mecca-Taif pipeline.

  • SAUDI ARABIA

    Tender no 204-C45R. Construction of support facilities for a pipeline corridor, phase 3. The scope of works will comprise all works and materials to construct the hose tower for berth 37 at King Fahd Industrial Port to accommodate 20-30 boom hoses. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 13 December.

  • SAUDI ARABIA

    Tender no 202-C18. Carrying out earthworks for Jubail II, stage 3. The scope of works will include performance of overall grading works of four large industrial plots in zones E and F in Jubail Industrial City. Grading works include site preparation excavation transporting backfilling and demolishing of the existing structures and utilities removal of trees and transporting them to the storage area and embankments works. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 4 December.

  • SAUDI ARABIA

    Tender no G4000012/00. Provision of security services.

  • Saudi Arabia threatens tobacco producers

    Saudi Arabia on 29 November warned that it will sue international tobacco companies if they refuse to bear the full costs of treating smoking-related illnesses. The Health Ministry says it has rejected an offer from tobacco firms, which fell short of the compensation it is seeking. The Ministry has not disclosed how much it is seeking. 'Representatives of tobacco companies have to pay both the patients and the health ministry for the costs of treatment,' a ministry statement quoted Healt

  • Saudi Arabia's growing dairy market

    Despite one third of its area covered by the world’s largest sand desert and average rainfall of four inches a year, the kingdom’s agriculture sector has flourished

  • Saudi forces clash with militants

    Saudi security forces clashed with gunmen in Jeddah on 7 December and surrounded a group of fugitives, the local Al-Arabiya television station reported. Reports said ambulances carried the wounded away from the scene of the incident in the Ruwais district. Saudi officials have not confirmed the gunfight. On 2 December, Riyadh said it had arrested 136 alleged Islamic militants. Two days later, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said the

  • Saudi gas: Paying the gas bill on time

    Dhahran-based Eastern Gas Company (EGC) is a relative unknown in Saudi Arabia's hydrocarbons industry.

  • Schools pilot launched

    The General Authority for Educational Buildings (GAEB) has launched a pilot project to pioneer the use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the education sector.More than 2,000 schools will be built under the New Public Schools Project, which is being carried out together with the Finance Ministry's Central PPP unit. It is the first time the government has asked the private sector to finance and maintain state schools in Egypt.GAEB has invited expressions of interest

  • Scores in for Cap Ghir coal

    More than 70 representatives from local and international developers and contractors attended a pre-bid meeting in late November for the kingdom's second coal-fired independent power plant at Cap Ghir, north of Agadir.

  • Scores killed in Sudan clashes

    At least 300 people were killed in fighting in southern Sudan earlier this week, aid workers said on 30 November. Clashes broke out between northern militias and former rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in the town of Malakal. The militias took shelter in Sudanese army barracks, which the SPLA then attacked. A day later the army reclaimed the base following shelling of the town. The number of casualties is unclear as the area remains to dangerous to acc

  • Seeb wastewater speeds on

    Oman Wastewater Services Company (OWSC) has prequalified eight groups to build an 82,000-cubic-metre-a-day sewage treatment plant at Seeb. The project will be tendered in the first quarter of 2007 and is part of the $1,000 million Muscat wastewater scheme.The prequalified companies are: South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company, with Hyundai Mobis; the UK's Biwater, with the UK/local Carillion Allawi; Austria's VA Tech Wabag, with India's Gammon and Oman Holdings Internati

  • Seismic award due for Dorra, and Lulu fields

    Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) plans to award by early January the 26-month contract to carry out a 3D seismic survey of the western half of the Dorra and part of the Lulu offshore fields.The contract also covers a 2D survey of the complete offshore area. Prices were submitted in August for the contract, with the bidders including Saudi Arabia's Arabian Geophysical & Surveying Company (Argas), Western Geco GSI, part of the US' Schlumberger, and the UK's BGS (MEED 18:8:06).

  • Serious Fraud Office ends Al-Yamamah investigation

    The UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has ended its investigation into the Al-Yamamah defence deal. In a statement on 14 December, the SFO said: 'The Director of the Serious Fraud Office has decided to discontinue the investigation into the affairs of BAE Systems as far as they relate to the Al-Yamamah defence contract with the government of Saudi Arabia.'This decision has been taken following representations that ha

  • Sharjah forms recycling firm

    Sharjah Municipality, the local JMS Property Development and Canada's Tactical Connections have formed a $500 million company to recycle waste in Sharjah. Bee'ah will build a recycling plant at Sajaa industrial area and will be responsible for waste collection.The company aims to recycle 55-65 per cent of Sharjah's 1 million tonnes a year of waste, which is growing by about 13 per cent a year. Bee'ah will initially focus on recycling building materials. Once the Sajaa plant is fully ope

  • Shell signed up for study

    The Royal Dutch/Shell Group signed an agreement on 27 November with state energy company Sonatrach to carry out an optimisation study of the country's liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage and export facilities. Under the 15-month contract, Shell will review existing facilities and recommend options for improvements.

  • Shia press for cleric's return to discussion table

    Shia politicians conducted discussions in Najaf on 22 December on the future of the governing alliance. Political leaders in the city were understood to have tried to persuade cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to control the activities of his militia and for his supporters to rejoin the established political process. Al-Sadr's political allies and supporters walked out of the parliamentary process in protest at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's meeting with President Bush. Talks are under

  • Shia take lead in Bahrain polls

    Bahrain's Shia opposition has won at least 40 per cent of seats in parliament, according to official election results released on 26 November. Al-Wefaq, the largest Shia group in Bahrain, took 16 of the 17 seats it was contesting. 'Our participation is limited,' Al-Wefaq leader Sheikh Ali Salman told Reuters. 'It's a positive step but let's put this participation in perspective. There are 40 people appointed by the king with the same legislative powers.' Sunni groups Salafi al-Asala and

  • Shortage of cladding leaves Dubai skyline bare

    A shortage of cladding is leaving much of the developing Dubai skyline naked and derailing construction deadlines.

  • Shots fired at US embassy in Sanaa

    Security forces in Sanaa shot and arrested a gunman after he fired shots at the US embassy in the Yemeni capital late on 4 December. No embassy staff were injured in the incident. 'He is now in hospital under heavy security and will be interrogated,' a Yemeni official told Reuters. Sanaa has cracked down on extremists linked to Al-Qaeda after the attack on the warship USS Cole in 2000 killed 17 people.

  • SHRIMP FARMING: Widening the net

    Aquaculture is becoming big business in Saudi Arabia, with companies such as Arabian Shrimp Company (ASC) in Jizan, National Prawn Company near Jeddah and Saudi Fisheries Company, based in Dammam, all focusing on shrimp production on an industrial scale. The warm waters of the Red Sea are ideal for the cultivation of fish and shellfish, and the global market is expanding fast.

  • Shuqaiq debt package unveiled

    The financing package for the Shuqaiq independent water and power project (IWPP) was launched to banks at meetings in Dubai and London in late November. Banks are being asked to respond by mid-December, enabling signature of the key project agreements by the end of the year and financial close in early 2007.

  • Siemens lands record phase 7 transmission order

    Germany's Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution (PTD) has won the biggest contract in its history on phase 7 of the Qatar transmission programme. Valued at just over Eur 700 million ($920 million), the 22-month order covers the substation packages on the programme.

  • Siemens tees off

    Germany's Siemens has been awarded the AED 192 million ($52 million) contract to supply, install, test and commission three 132/11-kV substations at Dubai Sports City. The contract duration is 18 months. Swiss-based Electrowatt Ekono is the consultant. Dubai Sports City is the client (MEED 13:1:06); Australia's Clifton Coney Group is the project manager.

  • SIPCHEM: ANALYSIS OF AN OFFERING: Bourses for courses

    The failure of the initial public offering (IPO) of shares in Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) to meet expectations highlights one crucial aspect of the Saudi stock market that is undermining its performance and long-term development. In a nutshell, it relies on retail investors for its liquidity. The offering should have targeted high net-worth individuals and institutions, who could afford to pay the premium SR 55 share price. Instead, it failed to appeal to the general publ

  • Six Construct wins piling

    The local/Belgian Six Construct Abu Dhabi has been awarded the piling package on the Al-Gurm development in Abu Dhabi. The seven month contract involves piling works for the villas. The next award will be for the construction of the villas and related infrastructure. The engineer of record is Canada's Cansult and the project manager is US-based Parsons International. The client is local real estate developer Aldar Properties (MEED 2:6:06).

  • Sky Oryx in talks for airport concourse

    The New Doha International Airport Steering Committee is in negotiations with the Sky Oryx joint venture (JV) for the concourse C superstructure package, as contract activity picks up on the $5,000 million project.Sky Oryx, made up of Japan's Taisei Corporation and Turkey's TAV, is the main contractor for the $807 million passenger terminal. The superstructure package will be tendered if the talks to do not result in an award.South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction h

  • Sohar ships polypropylene

    Oman Polypropylene (OPP) exported its first shipment in late November. The polypropylene was shipped to Pakistan. The plant started production in October and has started marketing its product in the UAE, the Indian sub-continent and Africa (MEED 20:10:06).

  • Sonatrach targets alternative energy

    Algeria's top oil executive has said the country must develop unconventional sources of energy, such as tight gas and shale gas, in order to meet rising demand.Speaking at the third international energy conference in Oran in late November, president and chief executive officer of state energy company Sonatrach Mohamed Meziane said: 'The era of conventional resources in Algeria is now ending ahead is that of non-conventional resources, whether it be tight, shale or deep gas,

  • Sorouh unveils Abu Dhabi island schemes

    Local real estate developer Sorouh Real Estate plans to build a AED 3,500 million ($954 million) mixed use development on Abu Dhabi island. Known as Saraya Abu Dhabi, the project will involve the construction of 30 residential and commercial towers with a height of 10-40 storeys.The 125,000-square-metre development is located on the eastern stretch of the Corniche road next to the Corniche Hospital, overlooking Lulu Island. Construction work is expected to start by the end of this year.

  • Spaniards win Medgaz job

    Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas has been awarded the onshore terminals contract on the estimated $767 million scheme to build a gas pipeline to Spain being developed by the Medgaz consortium. The 30-month engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning contract calls for a compression terminal at Beni Saf, 100 kilometres west of Arzew, a reception terminal at Almeria in Spain and the upgrade of control systems in Madrid. The 220-kilometre-long, 24-inch-diameter pipeline will transport 774 mil

  • Standard & Poor's rolls out three sharia indexes

    Standard & Poor's (S&P) has launched sharia-compliant versions of its three main corporate indexes, and will roll out similar products for companies in the Middle East next year.

  • Steel: Maturing market for costly metal

    Relief from high steel prices is imminent as the first globally-traded steel futures contract is about to be launched.

  • Substation awards flow

    Contractors have picked up a series of 132/11-kV substation contracts in Dubai. Germany's Siemens has been awarded two contracts, totalling $90 million, to build three substations at Dubai World Central and two more at Burj Dubai. The local Emirates Electrical Engineering has won an estimated $35 million contract to supply and install two substations at the Motorcity development. Oman's Bahwan Engineering Company has been awarded a similar-sized contract by Dubai Electricity & Water Authorit

  • Suez-led group wins Jubail

    A three-strong developer consortium led by Belgium's Suez Energy International has signed the key project agreements on the Jubail independent water and power project, planned by the Power & Water Utility Company for Jubail & Yanbu (Marafiq).The deal was signed on 20 December. With a power and water generating capacity of 2,750 MW and 176 million gallons a day, the facility will be the largest IWPP ever built (MEED 8:9:06).Under the terms of the concession, the Suez-led consortium, w

  • SUKUKS: Lagoon City set to lead surge in sukuks

    A roadshow was staged in Bahrain on 4 December for a $125 million sukuk issue by Kuwait's Al-Ahlia Investment Company to fund the Lagoon City portion of the Al-Khiran Pearl City development. A pipeline of sukuks is building up for the new year and bankers expect that a significant increase in the number of corporate issues, as well as structural innovation, will be major trends in 2007.Al-Ahlia's musharaka sukuk was lead managed by Liquidity Management Centre (LMC). Bahrain Islamic B

  • SUKUKS: The rise of sharia bonds

    Dubai-based developer Nakheel is used to creating a stir with the novelty and scale of its real estate projects. In December, it repeated the feat on the financial markets, as the company issued a massive $3,520 million sukuk the largest ever Islamic bond. And what Dubai does with a splash tends to be repeated on a smaller scale across the GCC. Islamic capital markets are evolving fast in the Gulf.

  • Sulaibiya to be extended

    The Ministry of Public Works has asked the US/local Utilities Development Company (UDC) to expand its Sulaibiya wastewater treatment and desalination plant to 500,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d), up from its current capacity of 375,000 cm/d. 'We have received the proposal from the ministry and are working on it,' says UDC deputy general manager Ibrahim al-Ghusain.

  • Suspected terrorists deported from Egypt

    Egypt has deported eight French and two Belgian nationals after they were accused of engaging in terror activity, airport sources said on 7 December. The foreigners were put on a flight to Brussels. 'The investigation revealed that these people were seeking to recruit more elements, convert them to their destructive doctrine, incite them to jihad and encourage them to travel to Iraq via third countries to carry out operations,' an Interior Ministry statement said on 4 December.

  • Syria supports Lebanon solution, says Moussa

    Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said on 21 December that Syrian President Asad will back efforts to resolve the political crisis in Lebanon. 'Arab backing is crucial,' Moussa said. 'I received assurances from the president of support for my efforts and that initiative I am carrying.'According to Reuters, political sources in Lebanon say the initiative provides for a unity government, a date for the start of consultations on a new preside

  • Syria will support Arab League in Lebanon

    The Arab League announced on 11 December it had won the support of Damascus for its efforts to mediate between Lebanon's government and Hezbollah. 'I have received confirmation from the brothers in Syria that they (support)… Lebanese consensus and support our efforts,' said Arab League envoy Mustafa Osman Ismail. The Arab League has also received in-principle backing from Lebanon's rival factions. Hezbollah-led protests continued in Beirut

  • SYRIA: A tough nut to crack

    When the Iraq Study Group, led by former US secretary of state James Baker, issues its long-awaited report at the end of the year, Washington and Baghdad won't be the only cities poring over its recommendations. In Damascus, the opportunity to restore relations with the US is important to a state that has languished in diplomatic isolation since the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. But just what each side will give the other is still unclear.

  • SYRIA: Nascent Market

    Tucked away in a street behind the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus, builders are putting the finishing touches to Al-Cham Bank, the country's first Islamic finance house. As delegates flocked to the hotel next door for a banking conference in early November, Al-Cham was preparing for its first public share offering. It was a demonstration of how far the Syrian financial sector has come in the last few years. In 2002, there were no private banks in Damascus, let alone sharia-compliant ones. Share

  • Taba bombers get death sentence

    An Egyptian state security court has found three men guilty of a series of bomb attacks in Sinai which killed 34 people in October 2004. The men were sentenced to death on 30 November having been tried on charges of murder, terrorism, illegal possession of weapons and belonging to a terror group. They were identified as Younes Mohammed Mahmoud, Osama al-Nakhlawi and Mohammed Jaez Sabbah. Prosecutors said they are members of the militant Islamist Tawheed & Jihad group. Ten

  • Take your partners

    It may well go down as the biggest construction deal ever signed in the Gulf. In late November, Abu Dhabi's Aldar Properties and the UK's Laing O'Rourke established a joint venture to manage as much as $2,000 million a year of work over the coming decade. The deal is a coup for both parties. For Aldar, it means better access to resources for its ever-expanding projects portfolio. For Laing, the partnership provides a guaranteed workload for years to come.

  • Taking the next step

    In a frenetic end to the year, international bonds worth more than $6,000 million were issued during just two weeks in late November and early December. Gulf bankers are no doubt eager to retire for the seasonal break. An unprecedentedly active year has seen volumes of Gulf issuance more than double from 2005's level which itself set a new record.

  • Talabani begins Iran visit

    Iraqi President Talabani on 27 November left Baghdad for Tehran where he will hold talks with President Ahmadinejad. The trip was due to take place two days earlier, but was delayed by a curfew imposed on the Iraqi capital. The curfew was put in place following the death of more than 200 people in a series of bomb attacks on 23 November.A week earlier, Talabani said 'strengthening relations and Iraq's security' would be on the agenda. The US has accused Tehran of backing S

  • Tama mulls cement bids

    Saudi Arabia's Tama Design has received bids for the equipment supply contract on its proposed cement plant in the Kurdish region. Bidders are understood to include KHD Humboldt Wedag and Polysius, both of Germany. The plant will have capacity of 5,000 tonnes a year (t/y) with work expected to begin in early 2007. Tama has also been awarded a licence to exploit limestone quarries in the area. India's Holtec is the consultant (MEED 3:6:06).

  • Taqa makes first oil and gas acquisition from BP

    Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has acquired the hydrocarbons exploration and production assets in the Netherlands of the UK's BP. The estimated $700 million deal is expected to be completed by the end of January. The assets covered include interests in a number of on- and offshore mature gas fields, producing a total of about 4.5 million cubic feet a day of gas.It is the first major acquisition by Taqa since its creation in mid-2005 to own power, water, energy, oil

  • TASI slump fails to dent flotation

    The initial public offering (IPO) of shares in Advanced Polypropylene Company (APPC) closed oversubscribed on 4 December, in spite of a new slump taking the secondary market to a two-year low. The flotation of Al-Abdullatif Industrial Investment Company (AIIC) will start on 9 December.The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) fell to 7,665.73 points on 3 December, its lowest level since late 2004. There was no obvious explanation for the 6 per cent daily decline, apart from speculation agai

  • Taweelah to be extended

    Abu Dhabi's Executive Council has approved the extension of the Taweelah A1 independent water and power plant.

  • Technip in line for gas contract

    Paris-based Technip has submitted a low bid of an estimated $610 million to Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company (Adgas) for package 1 on the offshore associated gas (OAG) project. Three companies submitted commercial bids in mid-November, with the local Dodsal offering a price of about $680 million. India's Larsen & Toubro quoted a price of $720 million.The contract involves the supply and installation of compressor and booster stations on Das island. OAG, which will connect the onshore a

  • Tehran prepares tenders for 3,000 MW of new capacity

    Three new 600-MW power plants have been issued for bid by Saba Power & Electricity Industries Company, a subsidiary of Mostazafan & Janbazan Foundation (MJF), the republic's largest bonyad (charitable trust). The plants were awarded to Saba in 2005 on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis by Iran Power Generation, Transmission & Distribution Company (Tavanir).

  • Tehran retenders titanium dioxide plant

    Tehran has retendered the estimated $500 million contract to design and build a titanium dioxide pigment complex at Kahnuj. The contract has been retendered because of a lack of foreign partners among the original bidding teams.

  • Tehran to review UN co-operation

    Iran's parliament, the Majlis, passed a bill on 27 December requiring the government to review its procedures of co-operation with the UN following its decision to impose sanctions over its atomic programme. President Ahmadinejad had already stated that he would reduce co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a move likely to include new limitations on the number of UN inspectors allowed in Iran's atomic sites. The bill also calls on Tehran to further 'a

  • Tel Aviv allows Abbas force to deploy in Gaza

    Israel has agreed to allow Palestinian Authority (PA) President Abbas to send a security force loyal to him into the Gaza Strip, an Israeli diplomatic source told Reuters on 29 November. The decision follows a request by Abbas to deploy the 1,000-strong Jordan-based Badr Brigade. A ceasefire in Gaza was agreed between Palestinian and Israeli officials on 26 November.'Basically, we have agreed, though it has not yet been officially released,' the source said. 'The request c

  • Tel Aviv to resume strikes

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered on 27 December the resumption of military strikes on Palestinian militants in Gaza thought to be firing rockets into Israel. 'Troops have been instructed to take pinpoint action against rocket-launching squads,' Olmert said. However, he said that this did not constitute an abrogation of the ceasefire in the territory signed on 26 November. Despite international pressure to maintain the ceasefire, Olmert has come under domestic pressure

  • Tender due for Asab gas plant expansion

    Companies have responded to an initial inquiry from Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Company (Gasco) for the position of project management consultant (PMC) on the Asab gas plant expansion.

  • Tenders out for parallel roads

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority has issued to bid contract 2C on the comprehensive improvements of the parallel roads. Selected companies have been given until 8 January 2007 to submit prices.The project involves the construction of two new road links connecting to Sheikh Rashid road in the Zabeel area. Bids are due to be submitted on 25 December for contract 1, which involves the modification and improvement of two north-south corridors running between Sheikh Zayed road and Al-Khail

  • Terrorist cell members arrested in Egypt

    Cairo on 4 December arrested a group of foreigners including Arab, US and European nationals with alleged links to terrorist groups. Nine Frenchmen, two Belgians and one American were among those detained. An Interior Ministry statement said the group, which was using the study of Islam and Arabic as a cover, was planning terrorist attacks in the Middle East, including Iraq. 'Investigations have confirmed that those elements are related to some terrorist organisations abro

  • Thais replace Koreans

    Thailand's Powerline Group has been awarded the estimated AED 1,000 million ($272 million) main construction package for the Dubai Lagoon project at Dubai Investment Park. The client, local developer Town Centre Management, signed a memorandum of understanding with the South Korean joint venture of Daewoo DSME Construction Company and Sunjin Civil & Architecture (C&A) Company in June. The project comprises 51 residential buildings with a built-up area of 163,000 square metres. US-bas

  • The economic argument: Winning on price

    The Middle East's power and water officials were out in force in Vienna in early December. Representatives from seven regional states were in town to attend a three-day workshop at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) on developing nuclear energy. The high turnout spoke volumes about the region's sudden and unprecedented interest in nuclear energy as an alternative to gas for electricity and water production.

  • The GCC party is over but the good times will roll on

    There is a moment in every party when it becomes clear the end is near. It's still fun, but the crowd has thinned. The time has come to go home.

  • The quiet reformer

    King Abdullah is a busy man. The 79-year-old monarch has been getting to know his people in recent months, covering every inch of the country, from Hail in the north to Jizan and Najran in the south. Every stop has been linked with the launch of a new university, a greenfield industrial plant or a real estate development or two.

  • Third operator wins approval

    The Council of Ministers has approved a plan to set up the state's third mobile operator. The decision was announced on 18 December, days before the National Assembly was to meet to debate its own bill over the establishment of the operator.It is the latest phase of a battle between the government and parliament over the issue. The two have been at loggerheads, with parliament claiming that it is its prerogative to pass a law to set up a new company, while the executive branch insist

  • Thirty-six dead in Iranian plane crash

    A military plane crashed while taking off from Tehran on 27 November. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said 36 people - 30 soldiers and six crew members - were killed in the crash. Two soldiers were initially reported to have survived. State television reports said one died later. This is the fourth plane crash in Iran in less than a year. The plane, which is reported to have been carrying senior officials, was due to fly from Tehran to Shiraz in southern Iran. The Revolutionar

  • Three children killed in Gaza

    Gunmen in Gaza City on 11 December killed three children of a Fatah intelligence chief. The attackers opened fire on a vehicle taking the children of Baha Balousheh to school. One adult was also killed in the incident. Fatah supporters have vowed revenge. Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum condemned the incident as an 'awful, ugly crime against innocent children'. He accused the attackers of trying to undermine Palestinian interests. The killings came a day after gunmen shot at I

  • Tokyo funds energy sector

    Japan is to loan a further Y82,600 million ($705 million) to assist in the reconstruction of oil and electricity facilities in the country. The Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry has allocated Y50,000 million ($424 million) to fund the construction of a pipeline to export oil from Basra in southern Iraq. The remaining Y32,600 million ($276 million) of the loan will be used to improve power transmission facilities. The 40-year loan is the latest tranche of Y580,000 million ($5,000 million) of fina

  • Total acquires Qatargas II

    France's Total has acquired a 16.7 per cent equity stake in the second train of the Qatar Liquefied Gas Company II (Qatargas II) project at Ras Laffan. As part of the agreement, Total will also take an 8.35 per cent stake in the South Hook liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Milford Haven in the UK. Earlier this year, Total signed a sale and purchase agreement of up to 2.5 million tonnes a year of LNG from Qatargas II over 25 years.

  • Tourism: Viva Bawadi

    Arif Mubarak is quick to point out that Dubai's latest tourism development is not a Las Vegas clone. 'Bawadi is totally different,' says the chief executive officer of the Bawadi development company. 'It has a totally different target segment, totally different customers, totally different cultures and totally different offerings.'

  • Tram consultancy deadline extended

    The deadline for bids for the design and construction supervision contract on the estimated Eur 290 million ($384 million) Rabat-Sale tram system has been extended to 4 January. The contract calls for the completion of design studies, preparation of tenders for a raft of construction contracts, bid evaluation and construction supervision. An award is set for the end of January, with design completion scheduled for the end of August. First-phase designs were carried out by a consortium led by

  • Tram system nears

    Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is planning a new tram system in Jumeirah to relieve traffic congestion. The 35-40-kilometre network will run along Jumeirah Beach road from Satwa to the hotel district in Jumeirah and will connect with the Dubai Metro red line. The RTA will invite consultants in February to bid for work.

  • Transco sale nears

    Financial, legal and technical advisers are expected to be approached during the first quarter of 2007 on the planned sale of Transmission & Dispatch Company (Transco), with a view to launching the divestment by year-end. Sale of the company was mandated under the power sector law, promulgated in late 2004, which laid out plans for sale of all the sultanate's generation, transmission and distribution assets (MEED 23:7:04).

  • Tripoli issues pump tender

    International companies have been given until 12 February 2007 to submit bids for the engineering, procurement and construction contract to build three pumping stations on the third phase of the great manmade river project.The contract covers the construction of a lift pump station at Kufra wellfield in the southeast, and two booster pump stations along the route of the pipeline, south of Ajdabiya and between Ajdabiya and Sirte.The stations will pump water from the Kufra wellfie

  • TUNISIA

    Tender no 02/2006-TR. Project no P048825. Carrying out restoration, extension and construction works at the national museum in Bardo as part of a cultural heritage management project. Financed by the World Bank. Bid bond is TD 130,000. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 18 December.

  • TUNISIA

    Tender no 03/2006-TR. Project no P048825. Carrying out works at a museum of art in Djerba as part of a cultural heritage management project. Financed by the World Bank. A pre-bid meeting will take place on 18 December.

  • TUNISIA

    Tender no 1/2000-11000000-3-BAD-PAES II/2006. Supply of computer equipment for colleges as part of the second phase of a secondary education support project (PAES-II). Financed by the African Development Bank.

  • Two bid for combined-cycle power plants

    State energy company Sonelgaz is evaluating technical bids from two companies for two contracts to build combined-cycle power plants together worth an estimated $1,000 million. The facilities a 1,200-MW plant at Terga in the west and an 800-MW unit at Koudiet Draouch in the east will boost the country's electricity production by about 25 per cent (MEED 22:9:06).

  • Two compete for hotel

    Lafider, a consortium of the local Cosider and Libyan Foreign Investment Company, is carrying out price negotiations with two bidders for the estimated $100 million contract to build a hotel and commercial complex at Birkhadem in south Algiers. Turkey's Urban and a team of Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries and Cosider are chasing the 30-month contract.

  • Two Pakistanis executed in Saudi Arabia

    Saudi Arabia on 6 December executed a Pakistani man and woman for drug smuggling. This brings the number of executions in the kingdom this year to 31. Mohammed Mayaseed and Abagan Rafik were put to death in Jeddah, the Interior Ministry said. They had been found guilty of smuggling heroin in their stomachs. Riyadh executed 86 people in 2004 and 36 in 2005.

  • Two vie for tower tender

    The Saleh bin Abdulaziz al-Rajhi Business Council has received proposals from two consultants to prepare tender documents for the construction of Riyadh's tallest tower. To be located on King Fahd Street, the pyramid-shaped tower will reach 352-metres high (MEED 8:9:06).

  • UAE

    Tender no 13-EM/2007. Construction and maintenance of water distribution pipelines in western area A. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.

  • UAE

    Tender no 10-EM/2007. Supply of chemicals for desalination plants. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.

  • UAE

    Tender no 11-EM/2007. Supply of electronic water meters. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.

  • UAE

    Tender no 12-EM/2007. Maintenance of distribution kit substation at various locations in the north, eastern A and B, and central areas. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.

  • UAE

    Tender no CE/467/2006. Supply of cast resin distribution transformers. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.

  • UAE

    Tender no CE/379/2006. Augmentation of demineralisation water production at G station in the Jebel Ali power station complex. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.

  • UAE

    Tender no CE/485/2006. Supply of pilot cables. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.

  • UAE

    Expressions of interest. Carrying out a design, build and operate project for a large sewage treatment plant (STP) and associated works to serve Palm Water's International City development in Dubai. The project will be constructed in stages and comprises a 110,000-cubic-metre-a-day (cm/d) STP, which will use membrane bioreactor technology and is to be built in 22,000-cm/d modules. The treated sewage effluent (TSE) will either be polished through a 60,000-cm/d reverse osmosis (RO) plant and forwa

  • UAE

    CD extension. Tender no CE/288/2006. Supply, installation, testing and commissioning of 14 new 132/11-kV substations and associated 132-kV cable laying works. Bid bond is 5 per cent of tender price.

  • UAE opens polls for first election

    Polls opened in Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah in the UAE's first election on 18 December. Voting is due to start in Sharjah, Ajman and Umm al-Quwain on 20 December. Voters in Abu Dhabi and Fujairah were the first to the polls on 16 December.Only 6,689 out of 800,000 Emiratis are eligible to vote, picked to represent a cross-section of society. They will elect half of the members of the 40-seat Federal National Council (FNC).

  • UN report draws attention to position of Arab women

    The UN's latest Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) urges Arab countries to adopt affirmative action policies to increase women's involvement in 'all fields of human activity'. The report, which was released on 6 December, also calls for the eradication of female illiteracy by 2015. 'Arab countries stand to reap extraordinary benefits from giving men and women equal opportunities to acquire and utilise knowledge,' the report says. In the public

  • UN rights council to send mission to Darfur

    The UN's Human Rights Council decided on 13 December to send a mission of inquiry to Darfur. The mission will investigate reports of growing abuse against the local population. The council chairman, Mexican ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, will name the five members of the mission, which will be escorted by Sima Samar, UN special investigator for Sudan. Khartoum has rejected accusations that the situation in Darfur has worsened. The Human Rights

  • Unity government won't bring peace, says Peres

    Israeli vice-prime minister Shimon Peres on 6 December said the formation of a Palestinian national unity government would not be a step towards peace with Israel. He accused Hamas of playing the national unity card in an attempt to end the Western embargo of the Palestinian Authority (PA). 'Hamas doesn't want peace, even if we give them 1967 borders,' Peres told Israel Radio. 'Hamas wants to use Fatah as a cover, a facade, so they can get money.' PA President Abbas has said th

  • US calls for action on Iran

    The US on 5 December urged Russia and China to agree to sanctions on Iran as the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany were due to meet in Paris to discuss the nuclear standoff with Tehran. 'We've waited long enough,' said US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns. 'We've had hours and hours of discussions and we really do need the Russian and Chinese governments to shift into third or fourth gear... and to work more quickly to agree with us on the basis of a res

  • US calls on Iraqis to avoid escalation

    US officials in Iraq are urging Iraqis not to be pulled into a cycle of violence. 'We implore all Iraqis not to become pawns of those who seek to destroy you and your country,' US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, said in a joint statement on 4 December. 'Do not allow yourselves to be drawn down the road of senseless brutality by striking back,' they said.Also on 4 December, police said they had uncovered 50 bodies in Baghd

  • US death toll climbs in Iraq

    US military spokesperson Christopher Garver on 7 December confirmed the deaths of 11 soldiers a day earlier, one of the worst days for US forces since they arrived. Five of the soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Kirkuk province. The latest deaths brought the total number of soldiers killed in Iraq in December to 30. Some 2,920 US soldiers have been killed since the US-led invasion in 2003. The latest deaths came as UK Prime Minister Tony

  • US forces kill two Iraqi women

    At least eight people, including two women were killed during an air raid on a house in the Iraqi town of Baqubah on 29 November. The US military said troops fighting a gun battle on the ground called for backup from the air. 'Due to the heavy volume of enemy fire, Coalition forces also engaged the terrorists with aircraft,' a military statement said. 'Coalition aircraft fired rounds neutralising the enemy threat. Iraqi police said the dead were all civilians from two families.

  • US mulls more troops for Iraq

    US Senator John McCain has said that military commanders are considering the possibility of sending an additional 10 combat brigades composed of up to 35,000 troops to Iraq. McCain was speaking on 14 December following talks with senior US commanders in Baghdad.'The American people are disappointed and frustrated with the Iraq war, but they want us to succeed if there is any way to do that,' McCain said. He added that any increase in troop levels

  • US soldiers charged over Haditha killings

    The US military on 21 December was due to announce charges against a group of marines accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha. The military initially denied the November 2005 incident, saying the men, women and children were killed by a roadside bomb. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the deaths a 'terrible crime'. Defence lawyers say the US troops fought a violent battle after the bomb exploded and the civilians may have been

  • US to stay in Gulf, says Gates

    The US navy is set to stay in the Gulf for the foreseeable future, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on 22 December. US media reports on 18 December said the naval presence in the region was aimed at warding off a possible threat from Iran.'I don't think it's a response to anything anyone else has done,' Gates said. 'I think the message that we are sending to everyone, not just Iran, is that the US is an enduring presence in this part of the wo

  • US troops clash with insurgents in Baghdad

    Heavy fighting broke out in Baghdad on 1 December when US troops entered the Fadhil district, a Sunni insurgent stronghold, and militants responded with gunfire. Witnesses told Reuters that two US helicopters were circling over the area and firing into the streets.The clashes come a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said his forces could take over security of the country by June 2007. 'Iraqi forces will be fully ready to receive this command,' Al-Maliki said i

  • US wants Iran vote

    Western powers were hoping for a UN Security Council vote on sanctions against Iran on 22 December, but Russia has quashed the suggestion. 'I do not think there is going to be a vote tomorrow,' Moscow's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said a day earlier. 'Maybe Saturday [23 December], yes, but clearly we will need tomorrow for further thinking and maybe further discussions.' The draft resolution demands that Tehran end its uranium enrichment program

  • Usco secures plant loan

    United Stainless Steel Company (Usco) has signed a $153 million loan with a group of nine banks to fund its stainless steel plant at Hidd. Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) acted as sole mandated lead arranger (MLA), underwriter and bookrunner.It was joined at syndication by Abu Dhabi Investment Company, Commercialbank, Mashreqbank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, National Bank of Dubai, National Bank of Kuwait, the OPEC Fund for International Development and Qatar National Bank. The tenor is 1

  • UTILITIES: Energy matters

    Desperate times call for desperate measures. With demand for power and water growing at record levels, Saudi Arabia has placed a new emphasis on water and electricity conservation. Improving efficiency and reducing per capita water and power consumption rates must be encouraged if shortages such as those seen throughout the kingdom in the summer are to be avoided.

  • Victims presumed dead off Yemen coast

    More than 150 people were presumed to have died off the coast of Yemen after a boat carrying migrants from Somalia capsized on 27 December, it was announced on 29 December. 'The confirmed death toll is 34, but 123 are still missing,' said a spokesman for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The incident happened as Yemeni security forces opened fire on boats smuggling migrants across the Gulf of Aden. Two boats offloaded their passengers while a third capsized 300 metre

  • Violence continues as reconciliation summit nears

    At least 15 people were killed in bomb blasts in Baghdad on 13 December. Suicide bombers also targeted an Iraqi army base and gunmen killed nine members of a Shia family in a village south of the capital.The latest violence comes as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is due to host a national reconciliation conference on 16 December. 'The political leadership needs to get together and decide whether they can put their differences aside and work

  • Wade wins more on Mirdif

    Local developer Dubai Properties has awarded the local Wade Adams Contracting an estimated AED 100 million ($27 million) contract for the phase 2 infrastructure works on its Mirdif Gate development. Canada-based Cansult is the infrastructure design consultant. Spain's Nombela & Asociados is the architect (MEED 14:7:06).

  • Washington rebukes Israel settlement plan

    Washington criticised Tel Aviv on 28 December over its decision to approve the construction of a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank. 'The US calls on Israel to meet its roadmap obligations and avoid taking steps that could be viewed as predetermining the outcome of final status negotiations,' Gonzo Gallegos, a US State Department spokesman said. 'The establishment of a new settlement or the expansion of an existing one would violate Israel's roadmap obligations.' There are

  • Water line work out to bid

    The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has issued two contracts for the Power & Water Utility Company for Jubail & Yanbu (Marafiq) water transmission system, serving cities in the Eastern Province.Marafiq Eastern Province Water Transmission System will involve the supply and installation of more than 100 kilometres of pipe from the planned independent water and power project in Jubail to Al-Khobar, Dammam, Ras Tanura, Qatif, Sayhat and Safwa.Technical and commercial

  • WATER REUSE: Gulf determined to increase reuse

    Water treatment and reuse is now one of the top priorities for governments across the GCC as populations increase and the demand on existing infrastructure and potable water generating capacity is stretched to the limits.

  • West ready to impose Iran sanctions

    The five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany could agree on the text of a resolution to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, French Foreign Affairs Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on 4 December. 'I think that we can now reach an agreement on the text,' he said. 'We are in agreement with Russia to adopt sanctions against the Iranian program of proliferation.' Douste-Blazy was speaking following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov

  • West urges Sudan to accept international troops

    The US and EU have stepped up pressure on Sudan to accept the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in Darfur. The calls follow warnings from London and Washington that punitive measures, including a no-fly zone in the west of the country, could be imposed on Sudan. 'Time is of the essence in a dire humanitarian situation,' a joint statement by EU leaders said on 15 December. '[The EU] strongly urges the government of Sudan to give it

  • Year ends with bond flurry

    GCC bond issues worth more than $5,000 million were priced in the last week of November, in what are likely to be the last major international issues from the region of a record-breaking year.The biggest instrument came from Dubai-based developer Nakheel, which issued a $3,500 million sukuk arranged by Barclays Capital and Dubai Islamic Bank. It was priced at 120 basis points (bp) over three-year swaps with subscription of about 40 per cent each from the Middle East and Europe.

  • YEMEN

    Tender no MGS-06-40. Project no P074413. Supply of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes and fittings as part of the groundwater and soil conservation project. Financed by the World Bank. Bid bond is 2 per cent of tender price.

  • YEMEN

    Expressions of interest. Project no P086886. Provision of the following design and specification consultancy services for Al-Hodeida, Al-Khawbah and Nishtun fisheries ports as part of a fisheries resources management and conservation project (fisheries five): 1) Al-Hodeida fishery port marine works, onshore works, civil works, fisheries facilities; 2) Al-Khawbah landing site shore protection works, onshore works, marine works, civil works, fisheries facilities; and 3) Nishtun fishery port pro

  • YEMEN

    Tender no G2C1. Project no P065111. Upgrading of the Maalla Dakka neighbourhood as part of the port cities development programme (group 2 projects). Financed by the International Development Association. Bid bond is 2.5 per cent of tender price.Details on payment of $100 from Port Cities Development Programme, Director-General, Co-ordination Unit, PO Box 6293, Khormaksar, Aden, telephone (9672) 239171/239172, fax (9672) 239165, email portcities@y.net.ye.

  • YEMEN

    Prequalification. Project no P085231. Carrying out various performance-based management and maintenance of roads contracts over a total 950 kilometres as part of the second rural access project. The works will consist of routine maintenance, occasional periodic maintenance, and possible emergency works. Financed by the International Development Association.

  • Yemen targeted refugees, says UN

    Yemeni security forces on 14 December shot at a ship carrying 120 refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia, killing two people. The incident occurred as the vessel was crossing the Gulf of Aden, the UN's refugee agency UNHCR said. The refugees told UNHCR that a Somali passenger and a trafficker had been shot dead. 'We are extremely concerned about this incident, where innocent civilians got hurt,' Radhouane Noucier, the UNHCR's deputy director for the region said.

  • Yemeni editor sentenced to jail

    A Yemeni editor who reprinted controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed was found guilty of defaming Islam and fined YR 500,000 ($2,519). Muhammed Assadi of the Yemen Observer newspaper is the second editor to be convicted for reprinting the cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper this year. 'The guilty verdict in this case is what harms the image of Islam,' Assadi's lawyer said. In November, Kamal al-Alafi was sentenced to one year in prison following his conv

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