Speaking at MEED’s Arabian World Construction Summit (AWCS) in Abu Dhabi, Fatima Obaid Al-Jaber, chief operating officer of Al-Jaber, confirms that the firm signed the contract in January.

According to Khaled Awad, property development director at Masdar, mobilisation has already begun onsite and work is expected to take up to three years.

Tenders for the second phase infrastructure contract are due to be issued later this year, he adds.

MEED reported in January that French bank, BNP Paribas, is expected to be awarded the mandate to acts as financial advisor on Masdar’s $22bn Green City, which is the residential area of the project. The mandate includes financial advisory services for the construction of thousands of homes, which are expected to be built over the next seven years. (MEED 11:1:09).