Saudi projects value dips Kuwait Bahrain move up
GCC project index valued at $3.1 trillion following 0.2% increase in mid-August
Saudi Arabia’s projects market has been valued at $956 billion, registering a slight decline from previous years, the only one amongst the GCC projects market. A report by local Saudi newspaper, Arab News, found a 0.1% decline during August, due to the cancellation of a petrochemical project in the region. The Saudi project market was quoted as the sole one to have dropped in an environment where Kuwait and Bahrain registered the highest rate of GCC projects at 0.6% (week-ending 13th August). GCC’s project index increased slightly by 0.2% in mid-August when the overall projects were valued at $3.1 trillion and project markets of all GCC countries except Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar increased in value, according to the report. Valued at $22 billion, the Riyadh Metro (mini-rail) project ranked as the biggest contract for the month of July in the Middle East, and accounted of 2/3rd of the region’s $31.6 billion projects. Saudi also topped Middle East’s volume of projects to be awarded; at almost $600 billion, it is followed by UAE at $350 billion and Kuwait at $150 billion. Local media quoted MEED as predicting a fruitful year ahead for GCC countries, with the value of projects to be awarded expected to hit $1.35 trillion by year-end as against last year’s $730 billion. An earlier MEED report was also quoted, stating that the GCC would award over $50 billion worth of contracts in oil, gas and petrochemical projects in 2013.
