The Gulf’s projects market grew for the first time in three months this week, as the total value of major projects planned or under way rose by 0.2 per cent to $2.6 trillion, according to MEED’s latest Gulf Projects Index.

The halt of the Gulf’s 12-week decline can be partly attributed to the stabilisation of the UAE’s projects index. The value of the UAE’s projects market grew by 0.1 per cent this week, having fallen for the previous 15 weeks.

Six new projects worth a total of $812m were launched in the UAE last week. The projects included a new Federal National Council building; a pipeline project from a desalination plant to storage tanks in Jebel Ali; a tower project in Jumeirah Lakes Towers; and a police residential complex. Bahrain’s projects market witnessed growth as a $162m district cooling plant project was revived. Kuwait also recorded an increase in the value of projects planned or under way as schemes to build a $142m substation and $114m gas pipeline were launched.

Despite a strong start to the year, Saudi Arabia – the region’s biggest construction market – witnessed a marginal decline as a $100m real-estate project and an $800m offshore platforms programme were completed last week.

Qatar was the only other country in the GCC to witness a decline in its market. This was mainly due to the completion of the QatarGas liquefied natural gas trains 6 & 7 project. With no new project launches last week, Qatar’s projects index dipped by 1.7 per cent.

The largest new project launched in the Gulf last week was a $10bn water injection facility in Iraq, which resulted in the state’s projects market growing by 2.8 per cent. Iraq maintains its position as the region’s fastest-growing market, recording a 71.7 per cent year-on-year increase.