Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company says that the region’s construction market has bottomed out as the market adjusts to lower government budgets and reduced project spending.

“We have hit the bottom. The companies have learned how to live with lower budgets, all the people I have met are cutting budgets and merging departments. Only the prioritised projects will go ahead, but we know now which jobs will go ahead and what to focus on,” says Samer Khoury, president engineering and construction, CCC.

Khoury’s comments come after the value of contracts awards in the GCC fell by 40 per cent during the first six months of this year. There was $52bn of contract awards compared to $87bn during the same period of 2015.

For the rest of the year Khoury says there are three key trends for the construction sector: “Number one, departments are trying to either cut costs or join forces to cut costs. The second trend we are seeing is only prioritised projects are going ahead. And the third trend is in order to support their budgets most of the governments in the Gulf have raised bonds. With interest rates so low you will see more of them tapping into the bond market and that is making funds available. Hopefully some will be for projects.”

CCC is one of the region’s largest construction companies with a presence in every Arab country. It operates in multiple sectors including oil and gas, petrochemicals, power and water, infrastructure, and buildings.