Hungarian firm awarded $413m contract to build infrastructure in Libya

17 March 2010

Libya has allocated $65bn for infrastructure and development

Hungarian contractor Nemzetközi Vegyépszer won a $413m tender to build infrastructure and public facilities in Libya. The 40-month contract is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year.  

The main infrastructure package will see Nemzetközi Vegyépszer lay 600 kilometres of sewage pipes, 450km of water lines, build 600,000 square-metres of sidewalks and provide lighting along 400km of roads.

Central to Libya’s modernisation is the government’s National Development Plan, which has allocated $65.6bn for development and infrastructure between 2010-13. It is estimated the government has also earmarked an additional $65bn for non-budget infrastructure projects over the same period.    

Between 2010-13, US-based Aecom will manage construction on housing, roads, bridges and water projects worth more than $50bn.

Libya’s construction industry is booming after decades of stagnation under economic sanctions. Apart from roads, irrigation, power networks, schools and hospitals, opportunities also exist in the private sector with new office buildings, hotels and shopping malls being planned for Tripoli and Benghazi.

Ample opportunities exist for foreign construction and infrastructure contractors, but sources inside Libya have said Western companies have been slow to seize them, paving the way for the likes of Nemzetközi Vegyépszer.

According to the Hungarian contractor, negotiations to expand its contract are under way. It says tenders floated from the Libyan government could double its volume of work in the country.  

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