Contractors are still waiting for work to start on infrastructure projects in Libya as security concerns remain and ministries wait to get funding for infrastructure schemes.

“It [reconstruction] didn’t start yet, we are waiting for the funding to come,” says Samer Khoury, president (engineering and construction), Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) speaking at MEED’s Arabian World Construction Summit on 14 May. “The oil and power sectors are the only ones moving, for other infrastructure [projects], the ministries did not get the funding for them yet.”

A joint venture of Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company and Turkey’s TAV was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the new Sebha airport in 2007. The project stalled before the revolution in 2011 and since then has not restarted.

“We are waiting for the civil aviation authority, At the moment nothing can be done, it is out of our hands,” says Yusuf Akcayoglu, Middle East director, Tav Construction, who was also speaking at the Arabian World Construction Summit on 14 May.

Security is also an issue for contractors. David Welch, chief executive officer, Bechtel says there are still major security concerns in the country that are preventing work moving forward.