Local developer Aldar Properties has awarded three contracts for infrastructure work at Al-Falah, a multi-billion-dollar housing development designed for the families of UAE nationals.

The Al-Falah development will provide 5,000 houses for local citizens and is located east of the Abu Dhabi International Airport. The scheme will be divided into five villages and each village will contain 970 houses, three schools, mosques and health and leisure facilities.

The total development will cover an area of approximately 12 million square metres.

The local Hilal Bil Badi & Partners has been awarded an infrastructure contract for village one, the local Ghantoot Transport & General Contracting Establishment for villages two and three, and the local Al-Jaber Group for villages four and five.

The infrastructure required to serve the Al-Falah community includes over 178 kilometres of roads, 198.5km of water networks, 149.5km of sewer networks, a medium and low voltage power network and up to 100km of fibre optic communication cable.

Last July, Aldar awarded three major construction contracts on its Al-Falah villas project. Aldar awarded the contracts, which are worth up to AED2.6bn each ($706m), to the local Al-Jaber Group; Saudi Arabia’s El-Seif Engineering & Contracting; and Malaysia’s Pembinaan SPK (MEED 21:7:09).

In September, Aldar appointed UK-based Hyder Consulting as the infrastructure design consultant for the development.