Averda has secured a contract to become the environmental partner for two major events in Saudi Arabia’s cultural calendar this month. The firm will manage waste and cleaning services for The Red Sea Film Festival and the Kingdom’s debut Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021, which is being held in Jeddah.

According to a statement, The Red Sea Film Festival takes place in Jeddah’s historic old town from December 6 to 15. Saudi Arabia’s F1 began on December 3 in the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

“Averda is honored to become the trusted partner to support these two major events in Jeddah and ensure the best possible experience and environment for the many national and international visitors,” said Averda chief growth officer Mazen Chebaklo.

The firm said its crew will work around the clock at both events, to ensure the locations are kept clean and has set aside additional resources in readiness for any urgent issues. For the film festival, the company will be responsible for managing construction and demolition waste from the temporary installations, and ensuring all litter and waste generated by film-goers is promptly and responsibly removed, leaving the environment pristine, the statement concluded.

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As part of the country’s ongoing 51^st National Day celebrations, the Oman Investment Authority (OIA) has unveiled 13 projects totally $9bn. The projects embody the OIA’s strategy that aligns with Oman Vision 2040, said Nassir Sulaiman Al Harthi, deputy chairman of OIA.

According to a report by the Oman News Agency (ONA), the OIA sees various goals for implementing the projects. They enhance efforts to diversify Oman’s economy, attract investments, empower government-private sector partnership, provide jobs for Omani citizens and realize fiscal sustainability, said Al Harthi.

Al Harthi listed the projects as follows:

1.    Liwa Plastic Industries project at Sohar Port aimed to bolster the sector of converting industries and energy

2.    Liquefied Petroleum Gas project in Salalah to realise high added value from Omani gas

3.    Petroleum Coke Installation at Sohar Free Zone, whose annual production capacity stands at 500,000 tons that can be increased in upcoming stages

4.  Ibri Solar Plant project, which encourages the use of renewable energy to meet local demand for electrical power

   5.    Al Murooj Dairy Products, the first food security project of its kind in the Sultanate of Oman and the GCC. It will target camel and cattle breeders in Dhofar and Al Wusta governorates and other small and medium enterprises

   6.    Al Bashayer Meat project, an integrated livestock rearing and meat processing project operating in three centres around the country, in addition to a veterinary clinic

   7.    A shrimp farm in Jaalan Bani Bu Hassan focusing on white-leg shrimp. It is the first commercial project of its kind targeting 4,500 tons per annum

   8.    Khazaen Land Port (dry port) in South Al Batinah, which falls in Khazaen Economic City. It will serve as an important link among seaports, airports and land ports and connects major business and industrial zones

   9.    The One-Stop-Station in Salalah, which serves as a single platform for government audit and inspection departments. It works in close coordination with ‘Bayan’ risk management system to facilitate import and export operations

   10.    Ahjar Quarry Company based in the Wilayat of Liwa and implemented as part of partnership with the private sector. This mining project covers an area of two square kilometres. The license was first awarded for the exploitation of Gabbro area in 2019. The project is aiming for five metric tons per annum and it is expected to last 50 years

   11.    Karwa Motors project in Duqm, which is a partnership between the Sultanate and Qatar. It is designed to produce three types of hi-tech made-in-Oman school buses and city transport buses

   12.    Oman International Hospital project, a government-private sector partnership, will provide advanced healthcare services to citizens and residents in Oman, with emphasis on maternity and paediatric medicine, cardiology, ophthalmology and orthopaedics

   13.    Ducit2 Naseem Resort in Al Jabal Al Akhdar, which boats 250 state-of-the-art hotel rooms and an adventure park covering an area of 8,000sqm

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Global energy giant Aramco has announced the start of development of the vast Jafurah unconventional gas field, the largest non-associated gas field in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In a statement, the company said that it has awarded subsurface and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts worth $10 billion, with capital expenditure at Jafurah expected to reach $68 billion over the first 10 years of development.

The announcement is a significant milestone both for the commercialisation of unconventional resources in Saudi Arabia and the expansion of Aramco’s integrated gas portfolio, which will provide additional feedstock to support growth of the Company’s high-value chemicals business, complement its focus on low-carbon hydrogen production and help reduce emissions in the domestic power sector by providing a cleaner-burning alternative to liquid fuel.

The project is a key component of the Company’s long-term strategy and Aramco expects total overall lifecycle investment at Jafurah to exceed $100 billion. Through its unconventional gas program at the Jafurah, North Arabia and South Ghawar fields, the Company expects to create more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Amin H. Nasser, Aramco President and CEO, said: “This is a pivotal moment in the commercialisation of Saudi Arabia’s vast unconventional resources program. It is a breakthrough that few outside the Kingdom thought was possible, and which has positive implications for energy security, economic development and climate protection.

“Gas has a critical role to play in the energy transition and it will help significantly reduce emissions in the domestic energy sector, while providing a feedstock for low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia. It will also allow Aramco to tap into high-value feedstocks for use in the expanding Downstream petrochemicals industry and our aim is to significantly increase our gas production capacity over the next decade to meet demand growth.”

With an estimated 200 trillion standard cubic feet of gas in place, the Jafurah basin hosts the largest liquid-rich shale gas play in the Middle East. This shale play covers an area measuring 17,000 square kilometers and production of natural gas at Jafurah is expected to ramp up from 200 million standard cubic feet per day (scfd) in 2025 to reach a sustainable gas rate of two billion scfd of sales gas by 2030, with 418 million scfd of ethane and around 630,000 barrels per day of gas liquids and condensates, which are essential feedstock for the growing petrochemical industry. It will make Saudi Arabia one of the world’s largest natural gas producers.

Aramco has recently announced its ambition to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions across its wholly-owned operated assets by 2050. Jafurah is expected to contribute to Saudi Arabia’s goal of producing half of its electricity from gas and half from renewables as the Kingdom pursues its own 2060 net-zero target.

At peak production, Aramco’s unconventional gas program is expected to replace around half a million barrels of crude oil per day that would otherwise have been used for domestic consumption. The Jafurah gas development alone is expected to replace more than 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day at peak production.

HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, Minister of Energy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said: “The development of Jafurah will positively contribute to the Kingdom’s energy mix and it has been made possible thanks to close co-operation between more than 17 different agencies. The government is committed to the empowerment of national companies such as Aramco and no other energy company in the world is empowered to the same extent by the state, or by the Ministry of Energy which oversees the concession to develop the Kingdom’s hydrocarbon resources.”

Aramco has awarded 16 subsurface and EPC contracts valued at $10bn for the Jafurah Gas Plant and gas compression facilities, as well as infrastructure and related surface facilities. These contracts were awarded to domestic and international service companies and involve several projects to enable development of subsurface and surface components of the Jafurah program.

This will allow for the reliable delivery of gas and condensates through a dedicated surface network that includes a gas processing plant, a gas compression system and network of around 1,500 kilometers of main transfer pipelines, flow lines and gas gathering pipelines. The program also includes construction of the Jafurah Bulk Supply Point, transmission lines, power interconnection for Jafurah Gas Plant and new cogeneration plant facilities.

In line with Aramco’s Digital Transformation Program, development of Jafurah will incorporate advanced Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies, including Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and video analytics, to enhance construction, operation and safety.

Aramco has awarded the majority of Jafurah subsurface contracts, in addition to engineering, material procurement and construction contracts, to contractors based in Saudi Arabia, in association with reputed international contractors and service providers. This is in line with the Company’s efforts to support development of the domestic energy sector and local supply chain partners.

In addition, to drive domestic value creation and maximise long-term economic growth and diversification, the Jafurah development program will include an In-Kingdom Total Value Add (iktva) component. Aramco launched the iktva program in 2015 to facilitate development of a diverse, sustainable, and a globally competitive energy sector.

Nasir K. Al-Naimi, Aramco’s Upstream Senior Vice President, said: “The development of Jafurah is a game-changer for our Unconventional Resources program. It will be one of the most modern, cost-efficient shale development schemes in the industry and observe the highest environmental and safety standards.

“Jafurah will be a key enabler of our ambitions moving forward, and we continue to explore new fields, re-evaluate existing ones and evaluate potential joint investment opportunities in both natural gas and natural gas liquids as we pursue our goal of developing an integrated global gas portfolio to meet long-term energy and petrochemicals demand,” he concluded.

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Source: MEConstructionNews

Saudi Arabia’s Al Kathiri Holding Company has announced that one of its subsidiaries, Alian Industry Company, has completed the installation of a concrete manufacturing plant within the Al Narges View Project in the Al Jawan Suburb of Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

A major holding company, Al Kathiri, through its subsidiaries, manufactures construction materials and is also a major distributor of concrete, cement, mortars, aggregates, and other products.

In a filing to the Saudi bourse Tadawul, it said that Alian Industry had secured a 7,000sqm plot of land from Abdul Rahman Saad Al Rashed & Sons for the setting up of the plant that will manufacture and supply ready-mixed concrete

It added that production from the new plant is expected to begin soon.

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The Opera Grand Tower in the Downtown Dubai District has been successfully topped out, WSP Middle East has announced. The construction milestone was celebrated via an exclusive ceremony which was attended by key dignitaries and project stakeholders, the firm said.

According to a statement from WSP Middle East, the milestone builds on the successful topping out of Emaar’s Il Primo Tower in June, 2021. Rising either side of Dubai Opera, Il Primo and Opera Grand are set to become integral architectural masterpieces that complement the vibrant cultural heart of Dubai.

“WSP Middle East are proud to be engineering another landmark structure within the Dubai Opera District. Through the provision of world-class technical expertise and a commitment to optimising stakeholder collaboration at every phase of construction, WSP’s project team has once again risen to the task and raised the bar for engineering and construction standards. Following the successful topping out of Il Primo Tower earlier in 2021, this latest milestone at Opera Grand Tower rounds out a quinella of high-rise top outs for Emaar Development’s Dubai Opera District portfolio, thus strengthening the growing renown of this world-class destination,” said Mark Farley, managing director – Property & Buildings at WSP Middle East.

The Emaar project is located on the south side of The Opera House between The Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa. The building stands 72 storeys tall and offers one, two, three, four and five-bedroom apartments, as well as five-bedroom podium-level townhouses. With proximity to major roads and the Dubai Metro, the whole city will be within easy reach of residents as well as visitors of the tower, the statement concluded.

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Trimble was the featured prominent industry player invited at Heriot-Watt University Dubai’s recently held WATTXPO in Dubai, to prepare the next generation of construction professionals. The company showcased its portfolio of technologies for the construction industry before the university’s students, families and friends.

WATTXPO was organised to create an environment similar to Expo Dubai for the students, where they could learn and interact with key industry players such as Trimble. The campus was transformed into nine ifferent pavilions featuring activities and themes like art and culture, business, sustainability, environment, engineering and technology.

Trimble experts demonstrated how its diverse construction technologies can help ensure efficiency and safety within infrastructure construction workflows. The team engaged with the students and allowed them to try the equipment on the students’ own created models. This allowed an enhanced experience in a much different perspective for the students to understand the use of these technologies. The technologies presented at the event were HoloLens, X7 Laser Scanner, Trimble Connect, and Tekla.

Many of the UAE’s large-scale projects have utilised these technologies. Its Tekla solution, for instance, was used in the iconic Burj Khalifa and Museum of the Future structures. The company attended the WATTXPO as part of its continuous engagement with stakeholders, including universities, to highlight the role of cutting-edge technologies in construction projects. Its participation in the event showed anew the value it attaches to engaging with young budding minds of the industry.

“At Trimble, it is always rewarding for us to share with young minds our expertise as a leading solutions provider to major construction projects in the UAE,” commented Paul Wallett, regional director, Trimble Middle East and India. “We consider it a privilege to engage with them as we discuss how technologies are now bridging the gaps between the physical and digital worlds. Their ideas and thoughts are inspiring. During WATTXPO , we were given another opportunity to exchange insights and interact with the students. We thank Heriot-Watt University Dubai for inviting us to be a part of its special day.”

Claire Roper-Browning – Regional Director Marketing, Recruitment, Admissions and Communications at Heriot-Watt University Dubai added: “Through WATTXPO, we brought our expertise across technology, innovation, business, interior, and fashion design to prospective students who wanted to experience the various courses we offer here in a fun and unique setting.  Our Pavilions were inspired by those at Expo 2020 and were extremely well received by our visitors. WATTXPO was indeed a unique event for us, and we were delighted to host a leading construction technology company like Trimble and have our students engage and learn from them.”

Trimble encouraged the architectural students to visualize the process of integrating the company’s technologies into their miniature construction models.

Gareth Samson, third-year Architectural Engineering student of Heriot Watt University, said:  “The workshop arranged for us by Heriot-Watt University Dubai with Trimble would definitely be a highlight of our many  interactions with technology. Not only were we allowed to see Trimble demonstrating their own models, they were more than welcoming to allow us to try the equipment on our own models which allowed us to experience it in a much different perspective rather than the basic monitor. The HoloLens tech by Trimble truly fascinated us with how precisely it could record our hand gestures, as well as with how accurate it was with measurements inside the mixed reality environment.

“This workshop truly did help us to widen our ideas of technology in the construction industry and I definitely do wish to collaborate with Trimble again in the future to learn more“ he added.

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Source: MEConstructionNews

Turner & Townsend has announced Kobus Havemann as its country manager for Saudi Arabia. The move is said to be part of the firm’s expansion in the Kingdom and aligns with the country’s vision for transformation to accelerate business growth.

According to a statement, Havemann will lead the ongoing growth of the firm in the Kingdom, as it works to transform performance on the nation’s key giga-developments.

“Turner & Townsend’s vision is to transform performance on the world’s most impactful programmes and projects. The ambition, scale and pace of development in the Kingdom provides us with a huge opportunity to really deliver on that vision. As a business, we have an important role to play in supporting these nation building activities, particularly in providing opportunities for Saudis to build their careers in construction with us,” said Havemann.

Commenting on his appointment, regional managing director Alan Talabani noted, “I’m delighted to welcome Kobus into the business. Our Saudi business has seen exceptional growth over the last few years, and the appetite from our clients continues to grow. Kobus’ wide-ranging experience will accelerate the expansion of our services, supporting our clients to deliver their business objectives.”

With over twenty-five years of global industry experience, Kobus has spent the last 11 years in the Middle East, most recently leading a multi-disciplinary office providing commercial, PMC, contract and programming services. A quantity surveyor by background, he has delivered a wide range of assets from aviation, hospitality and roads to utilities and oil and gas across Europe and the Middle East, the statement concluded.

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Source: MEConstructionNews

Dubai Maritime City (DMC), DP World’s purpose-built maritime centre, has reached the 20% completion mark for the upgrade of its wastewater management network in the industrial precinct, it has been announced.

According to a WAM report, the network will connect DMC, Mina Rashid and P&O Marinas to the existing Dubai Municipality main infrastructure. DMC features varied facilities including workshops, warehouses, showrooms, shops, office spaces, yacht manufacturing workshops and more that are ideal for major businesses in marine services, the report added.

Currently, their customer base includes companies primarily dealing with ship lifts, ship repair and yacht manufacturing. The $3.64 million upgrade project will meet the increasing demand within the industrial hub creating an uptick in the number of occupants, it said.

Ahmed Al Hammadi, Chief Operating Officer, DMC, said: “The Industrial Precinct of Dubai Maritime City is a bustling business hub, housing leading marine companies. Currently, the occupancy rate in the district has reached 82 per cent with 299 business partners. The rapidly increasing number of occupants prompted us to initiate the upgrade of the existing effluent treatment systems to offer first-grade services for the businesses here.

“We are constantly working to ensure that our existing facilities meet our clients’ needs. Thus, supporting our mission and purpose of helping DMC’s business partners thrive and preserving the quality we offer our discerning customers, while also facilitating the wastewater treatment processes in the city,” he added.

Currently, the project team has achieved 98% of the design work and 36% of the engineering and placement of contracts related to the upgrade project that commenced in October 2020 and is scheduled for completion in Q2 of 2022.

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Lootah Real Estate Development (LRED), the real estate development arm of Lootah Holding and a property developer dealing in master-planned, mixed-use communities and innovative lifestyle developments, has announced the launch of its new project, LOCI, a $19 million-valued modernistic and dynamic living facility that aims to target the needs of the UAE’s young professionals and learners.

Featuring park views, amenities, and a modern design, LOCI, derived from Latin meaning places or community, stands at five stories and covers an area of 3079 sqm. In a statement, the developer highlighted that the project demonstrates a lesson on innovative design built on an intimate scale.

The project consists of 114 units, ranging from impressively designed studios, to 1- & 2-bedroom apartments, based around three broader themes: Miami minimalist, New York Lofts and London Docks. These themes will be supplemented with differentiating tones, expression and ambiance, offering residents an elegant, luxurious, trendy and holistic lifestyle approach.

Commenting on the launch, Raja Alameddine, CEO of Lootah Real Estate Development, said: “We realise that youth are the UAE’s greatest asset and the foundation of country’s future. With more and more youngsters entering the workforce, Dubai is becoming a popular place for young professionals and dynamic learners.

“LOCI not only allows our target market to choose and customise their living space according to their needs and desires by offering them options to pick styles and layouts, but also offers them a user-friendly, modern and high-quality accommodation to relax, taking a breath of fresh air from the mundane, and breaking the mould of apartment living.”

Coinciding with country’s commitment to sustainable development, Alameddine says that LOCI will take the lead on sustainable living experience by offering eco-friendly, cleaner and smartly designed utilities to reduce heat transfers. Energy reflection materials, on-site water filtration facilities, smart ACs, solar-powered lighting and App-driven home maintenance system and other behind-the-scenes systems enhance the environment within the residential units.

The project will also feature gym facility with high end machines. Additionally, a space is designed for residents to practice yoga and meditation along with a rooftop pool. The interiors of the project are meticulously designed by JPA design, an award-winning multinational design company.

“At Lootah, we continue catering to all segments of the community. With changing times and needs, we want to offer exceptional accommodation experience to UAE’s thriving and young millennials and Gen Z. Loci has been designed keeping in consideration the need for a lifestyle experience that can meet the ambitions of youngsters, and at the same time, offer all the necessary amenities to lead an enjoyable, productive, and sustainable life,” added Arash Dara, Group Chief Executive Officer of Lootah Real Estate Development.

The project is situated in JVC and is located along entrance 1 in JVC, LOCI is in close proximity to Nakheel Mall, Circle Mall, 5-star hotels, multiple restaurants, shops and groceries and landscaped parks.

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Source: MEConstructionNews

Housing projects worth $1.03bn have been announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

Sheikh Mohammed explained, “Today, we approved housing projects in Dubai with a value of AED3.8 billion, including the distribution of 2,000 residential plots, 900 ready-made housing villas, an integrated complex of AED500 million for small families, and a set of services for beneficiaries, including the possibility of government administration building their own homes, exemptions from government fees, and a reduction in monthly installments for housing loans.”

He noted that providing quality housing for the public remained key to the UAE’s future plans, said a WAM report.

The housing file will remain within our personal follow-up and our goal is to change the shape of residential neighborhoods for citizens in the future to provide the best lifestyle and the best environment for families in the world, he concluded.

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Source: MEConstructionNews