Arabtec awarded Louvre Abu Dhabi contract
Arabtec has been awarded the contract to construct the Abu Dhabi branch of the Louvre museum
Landmark museum back on track in Abu Dhabi.
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Arabtec has been awarded the contract to construct the Abu Dhabi branch of the Louvre museum, the Dubai-listed contractor said in a bourse filing on Tuesday. Construction will begin immediately with completion in 2015.
The contract, awarded by Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development and Investment Co (TDIC), is valued at $653 million. State-owned TDIC obtained approval from the emirate’s executive council last year to proceed with building three iconic museums; the other two are the Guggenheim and the Zayed National Museum.
The Louvre is now due to be completed in 2015, the Guggenheim in 2017 and the Zayed National Museum in 2016. Originally, they were to be built between 2013 and 2014.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi is part of a thirty year agreement between the city of Abu Dhabi and the French government. The museum is to be located on the Saadiyat Island complex, and will be approximately 24,000 square metres in size.
A number of projects were postponed due to the economic condition last year in the wake of the global financial crisis; following the review, some projects are proceeding once again, but at a more conservative pace.
Arabtec was launched in 1975, and has a portfolio of construction projects in all sectors of real estate and infrastructure. The company has 40,000 staff.
