Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/141651
TRENDS AND TIDBITS continued from page 41 UAE Leapfrogs Saudi as Middle East's Biggest Construction Market According to the accountancy firm Deloitte, the Emirates' total spending on construction contracts was 4 percent higher last year than the Saudi total, which reached $15.6 billion - the first time in the past four years that the country has not topped the ranking. of the mosque from 600,000 to one million worshippers at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. "The expectation with this data was that Saudi Arabia would top the list in terms of the value of contracts awarded, but in the end that just wasn't the case for 2012," said Cynthia Corby, an audit partner at "Many of the major contracts there have not yet been awarded or were awarded in 2013. Meanwhile, in the UAE, 2012 saw a backlog of contracts delayed by the financial crisis finally awarded." Qatar was the third most active GCC construction market, with $10.4 billion worth Major infrastructure contracts awarded last year in the UAE include the Dh11.75bn contract to build the Midfield Terminal Building project at Abu Dhabi International Airport, which was won by a consortium including Consolidated Construction Company, TAV and Arabtec Construction as a backlog of contracts delayed by the global financial crisis was finally awarded. In Saudi Arabia, the largest construction deal awarded in 2012 was to expand the Masjid Al-Haram mosque in Mecca. This will increase the capacity Deloitte and leader of its construction industry group for the Middle East. of contracts awarded. Ahead of the 2022 Fifa World Cup, Qatar's total infrastructure IDA UNIVERSAL July-August 2013 spending is expected to reach $150 billion. Kuwait was the fourth most active construction market last year, with $8 billion worth of deals awarded, Deloitte said. The largest of these was the long-awaited $2.6 billion deal to build the Subiya Causeway, a 37-kilometre structure across the Bay of Kuwait, which was awarded to a consortium led by Hyundai last October. Transport construction accounts for 76 percent of total construction spending in the country. The news came as the U.S. engineering group Bechtel announced it was setting up a Global Centre of Engineering Excellence of about 100 engineers specializing in rail, marine and other infrastructure design as part of its attempt to cash in on the growing rail and other infrastructure projects set to be built in the region. Continued on page 49 47