
$359.9m bridge fund for JODC
JABAL Omar Development Company (JODC), the lead planner and developer for the Jabal Omar mountain area in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, has won bridge funding collectively worth SR1.35 billion ($359.98 million) from five local banks.
The funds – from Al Rajhi Bank, National Commercial Bank (AlAhli Bank), Bank AlJazira, the Saudi British Bank (SABB) and Saudi Hollandi Bank – will be used to accelerate the completion of the first phase of the project, which includes nine towers overlooking Ibrahim Al Khalil and Umm Al Qura streets.
The bridge funding is the first step towards arranging a Shariah-compliant syndicate finance that could reach up to SR5 billion ($1.33 billion) in the coming months. JODC is currently about to satisfy all banks’ requirements to close the syndication finance.
$4bn sports project scrapped
THE proposed $4 billion King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has been cancelled by the government, according to reports. The 9-million-sq-m city masterplan by Arup, was due to feature six or seven major venues designed by David Chipperfield Architects, Grimshaw Architects and Make Architects. Only the 100,000-seat main stadium designed by Populous has been retained by the state-owned client Saudi Aramco, while other projects have been cancelled.
Blue City could be liquidated
OMAN’S $20-billion Blue City project could be liquidated within 12 months under plans being considered by some of its bondholders. Also known as Al Madina A’Zarqa, the beachside mega-development located an hour’s drive from Muscat was to feature luxury housing, offices, hotels and universities for about 200,000 people. Planned to be developed over 20 years, it ran into trouble from the start with an ownership dispute, design changes and slow sales.
Siemens Energy wins Oman deals.
SIEMENS Energy has won an order from a group led by French utility GDF Suez to build two combined-cycle power plants in Oman.
The company, together with its South Korean partner GS E&C, will build the Barka Three and Sohar Two power plants, each with a generating capacity of 750 MW. Barka Three will be erected in the immediate vicinity of the coastal city of Barka in northern Oman, while Sohar Two will be built in the Sohar industrial park approximately 200 km west of Muscat.
In addition to turnkey construction, Siemens will supply for each of these plants the main components comprising two SGT5-4000F gas turbines, one SST5-5000 steam turbine, three SGen5-2000H generators, electrical equipment, and SPPA-T3000 instrumentation and control system. The consortium partner GS E&C will supply the heat-recovery steam generators.
Chicago Steel seeks partners
CHICAGO Steel Contracting is seeking new partnerships or joint ventures with companies requiring a reliable partner in steel fabrication.
The Bahrain-based company seeks partnerships “to combine market expertise with knowledge, which would yield bigger projects”.
“We would like to collaborate with companies possessing unique capabilities suitable for the Bahrain market, where there is a lot of potential,” says managing director Abdul Wadood Al Awadhi.
The company has invited interested companies to visit its facilities in the kingdom and explore the possibility of long-term tie-ups.
Focusing on engineering, blasting, painting, assembling, and erecting, the company has backed Bahrain’s construction developments and has been involved in major projects for the US Navy, Bahrain National Gas Company and Aluminium Bahrain (Alba).
Chicago Steel Contracting sources raw materials locally, but has well-connected networks in Saudi Arabia and Dubai for larger projects. For projects with more flexible lead times, the company sees opportunities to source materials from Asia and Japan.
Siemens to invest $5.6m in centre
GERMAN engineering giant Siemens will invest €4 million ($5.6 million) in a metallurgical service centre in Bahrain.
The centre, at Baytik Industrial Oasis, will be home to a team of Bahraini and international technicians serving the Middle East steel and aluminium industry with the manufacturing, overhaul and repair of mechanical equipment.
This service will help the existing mills in the region to optimise spare part storage and to reduce the downtime of their machines for maintenance and repair. The centre will employ 40 technicians, at least half of whom will be Bahraini.
Aga Khan honour for five projects
FIVE projects selected for the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture will be declared winners at a ceremony to be held at the Museum of Islamic Art this month (November 24).
The projects are the Wadi Hanifa Wetlands, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Revitalisation of the Hypercentre of Tunis, Tunisia; Madinat Al-Zahra Museum, Cordoba, Spain; Ipekyol Textile Factory, Edirne, Turkey; and Bridge School, Xiashi, Fujian, China.
His Highness the Aga Khan will also present the Chairman’s Award to Professor Oleg Grabar in recognition of his lifetime contribution to the field of Islamic art and architecture.
The master jury noted that a central concern in choosing the winners had been the issues of identity and plurality and their intersection in an increasingly globalised world.