The Gulf Projects Index shed 0.2 per cent on the week ending 14 August. Gains made by the project markets in Iran and to a lesser extent Saudi Arabia, at 2.7 and 0.26 per cent respectively, failed to avert the index from falling due to the dismal performance made by the rest of the Gulf countries.

Major new projects announced in Iran during the week include the new terminal at Imam Khomeini International airport, the masterplanned community at Imam Khomeini Airport City (IKAC) and the redevelopment projects for Mashhad and Shiraz international airports.

The project management consultancy package for the IKAC is being tendered with submissions due on 26 August. Prequalified consultancies for the project include Naco of the Netherlands, Brazil’s Progen, Italy’s One-works, Germany’s Obermeyer, Canada’s Zas Group and South Korea’s Heerim.

French companies Adpi and Buoygues, along with their local partners, are among the companies that have expressed an interest in the airport expansion projects, which could be developed using a build-lease-transfer (BLT) option.

The Saudi Arabia projects market grew only marginally on account of $3bn-worth of new projects and an upward budget revision amounting to $624m.

The UAE was the weakest-performing market, with total net project value contracting by 1.5 per cent. New projects totalling 124 with a combined value of $3.6bn were easily overwhelmed by the $14.8bn downward budget revision across 77 projects and $695m-worth of projects that were put on hold, $744m completed and $184m that have turned inactive.

Qatar was the second-weakest performing projects market shedding 0.6 per cent week-on-week. Downward budget revisions by $1.7bn, led by Qatar Public Works Authority’s (Ashghal’s) specialist clinic centre, triggered Qatar’s less then sterling performance.  

Qatar was followed by Oman’s projects market, which contracted by 0.3 per cent. Three projects worth $550m were put on hold in Oman during the week, including the first phase of the Sur steel plant, the Muscat Municipality’s workers residential city, and the Al-Sarooj mixed-use project.