Projects worth $13.8 billion were announced across the GCC in July 2019, a 140% growth month-on-month, with the energy sector registering the highest value in terms of new project announcements, worth $9.2 billion.
According to a report by BNC Projects Journal, the energy sector also led contract awards with $3.7 billion in awards, while project completions during the month equalled 90% of project completions seen during the whole of Q2 2019.
Saudi Arabia awarded projects worth $3.3 billion, while Oman announced new projects worth $5 billion in July, the report added.
BNC Construction Intelligence reported earlier that the six GCC countries saw the announcement of $125 billion worth of new projects during the first six months of 2019, including $63.5 billion announced in Q2 of the year.
These are part of an estimated 27,000 active projects across the region, worth a total of $2.52 trillion, as of the end of H1 2019.
As per the report, Saudi Arabia was the front runner, with $63.5 billion project announcements, comprising 50% of the total project announcement in the second quarter of the year.
During the first half of 2019, project owners in the GCC also awarded new construction contracts worth $49 billion, a 33% jump compared to the corresponding period in 2018, the report added.
“GCC project awards during first half of 2019 and the second half of 2018 were consistent, saved by the exponential growth in contract awards seen during the first half of the year and the major spike in utility contract awards during the first quarter of 2019,” said Avin Gidwani, chief executive officer of BNC Network.