Renewed growth in Kuwait’s projects market contributed to the Gulf projects index increasing by 0.2 per cent to $2.54 trillion on 12 July, according to regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

The total value of projects planned or under way in Kuwait rose by 1.8 per cent to $170.8bn, as the $3bn Failaka island tourist project was revived, having been put on hold earlier in the year.

The GCC projects market, which accounts for about 71 per cent of the total Gulf projects market, recorded positive growth of 0.4 per cent, with Saudi Arabia recording a 0.7 per cent increase. No GCC countries recorded a fall.

Saudi Arabia’s projects market increased to $618bn as 33 new projects, worth a total of $4.8bn, were added to the kingdom’s projects index. The largest of these is a $2.5bn Saudi Aramco Clean Transportation Fuels Project in Riyadh. The $533m container terminal at the King Abdulaziz Port project in Dammam was also revived.

Oman recorded 0.2 per cent rise in the value of its projects market, while Qatar recorded 0.1 per cent increase. The award of a $73m infrastructure contract for Muscat and Salalah airports contributed to Oman’s growth, while Qatar’s resulted from the addition of six projects worth $446m to its index. The largest of these was the new $150m Tawar shopping mall project in the Ad-Dawhah area of Doha.

The week was not as positive for the Gulf countries outside the GCC.

Iraq’s projects index dropped 0.8 per cent, while the value of projects planned or under way in Iran fell by 0.1 per cent. Iraq’s slide was caused by two infrastructure packages worth $3.3bn on the Baghdad metro project being put on hold. Despite the fall, Iraq remains the region’s fastest-growing projects market, recording a 36 per cent year-on-year increase.