The local Target Engineering Construction Company has been awarded the AED950m ($259m) contract for the second phase of the construction of the Forte residential towers in Downtown Dubai.

The works involve the construction of a podium and twin towers of 67 and 46 floors. Completion is expected in 40 months.

Target was earlier awarded a AED196m contract for substructure works for the Forte towers development. The scope of works for that contract involves the construction of five basements.

Target is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai-listed Arabtec Holding.

Arabtec has won a string of contracts in Dubai this year. In August a joint venture of the local Emaar and Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) awarded it the AED363m contract for the Project Star retail centre at the Expo 2020 site.

In early July, Arabtec was awarded the contract to build and operate the UAE Pavilion at the Expo 2020 site.

In April, Arabtec was awarded the contract to build Wasl Tower for Wasl on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Earlier in November, reported net profits of AED75m for the first nine months of this year on revenues of AED6.346bn.

During the third quarter Arabtec made a profit of AED17.8m, which is the third consecutive quarter of profit after two years of losses.

The nine months of profit is a major turnaround for the company which made a net loss of AED458m during the first nine months of 2016. Revenues also improved by 3.2 per cent when compared to the same period of last year.