Abu Dhabi Airports Company (Adac) has moved to cash bonds provided by contractors working on the Midfield terminal building project at Abu Dhabi International airport.

According to sources close to the project, the bonds total about AED3bn ($817m) and were to guarantee the performance of the main contractor – a joint venture of Turkey’s TAV, Lebanon-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) and the local Arabtec Construction.

It is understood that the bonds had been provided by local banks Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Mashreq Bank.

The TAV/CCC/Arabtec joint venture was awarded the AED10.55bn ($2.85bn) contract to build the Midfield terminal building in June 2012.

Since then, work has been delayed and costs have spiralled. Although no official comment has been made on the cost overruns, it is widely expected to cost about AED20bn to finish.

According to sources close to the project, the work is 98 per cent complete.

Adac did not respond to a request to comment.

The April 2021 UAE special report includes:

> UAE contractors must avoid pitfalls of past
> Abu Dhabi upstream segment starts to rumble
> UAE stays the clean energy course
> Abu Dhabi to ramp up desalination capacity
> UAE real estate to make a comeback with time lag
> UAE lenders face up to post-Covid challenges

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