APC opens new centre at Jebel Ali
APC by Schneider Electric has established a new entity in Jebel Ali called Schneider Electric DC to ease its operations in the Middle East and Africa.

The leading power protection and data centre solutions provider will offer its wide solutions range through the new set-up, fulfilling its aim to raise customer service levels, allowing better control over the inventory and providing a more proactive approach with quicker response time with the local operations management team.

“Establishing this free zone company allows for seamless transactions with our channel partners, both in the Middle East as well as in Africa, offering them with a host of strategic business benefits,” said Christian Bertrand, the company’s vice president – Middle East and Africa.

“This organisational simplification will greatly ease the business and provide a single point of contact for all business needs,” he added.

Atlas Copco launches new facility
ATLAS Copco has strengthened its presence in the Middle East with the opening of a new customer centre in Dubai.
The new facility located in Al Quoz industrial area will offer customers a wider range of products and services covering compressed air, gas and process, power generation, construction and mining equipment, specialty rental and all related after-sales service. The facility is equipped with a new workshop complete with balancing machines, which will enable the company to bring in complete machines for retrofit and will also be able to service them.

About 40 employees will work for the facility that will also support the existing customer centres in Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah. Besides this facility, Atlas Copco has branches in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi and an office in Bahrain.

Atlas Copco is a global leader in the manufacture and supply of compressors, construction and mining equipment.

Emirates Steel in safety drive
EMIRATES Steel reinforced awareness on health and safety issues last month by organising a health and safety day that featured a display of safety equipment, first-aid demonstrations, fire-fighting training by the Civil Defence and talks by the traffic department of the Abu Dhabi Police.

The first in a series of programme aimed to reinforce the knowledge of the employees in all aspects of health and safety, to execute more strongly correct procedures and to build on the company’s excellent track record of lost-time accidents and injury rates within its plants.

More than 750 of employees participated in the activities alongside company management, government authorities, dignitaries and other officials.

Eastern Mangroves taking shape
TOURISM Development & Investment Company (TDIC) has announced that 60 per cent of its Eastern Mangroves lifestyle and leisure development has now been completed.

Eastern Mangroves, which occupies a prime location along a 1.2-km stretch of the eastern shore of Abu Dhabi’s treasured mangroves, is set to become one of the capital’s tourism and leisure hotspots when it opens next year. Offering an integrated hotel resort, marina, retail and residential destination that includes 220 apartments, Eastern Mangroves has been carefully designed to protect and enhance its unique mangrove setting, providing guests and residents with a luxury escape from the bustle of city life.

The entire project – including Angsana Resort & Spa Eastern Mangroves, the marina, retail outlets and residential apartments – is scheduled to be fully operational in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Power Factor bags key MEP deals
POWER Factor Electromechanical Works has secured contracts to provide the complete mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works for three new projects in the UAE. The contracts have a combined value of Dh49.8 million ($13.5 million).

Power Factor will execute the projects in association with Al Arif Contracting, which is the main contractor for all the projects.

The new projects include a 23-storey residential and commercial tower located in Dubai Sports City, a 25-storey residential and commercial tower in Al Khan, Sharjah, and an 18-storey commercial tower in Al Mamzar, Sharjah.

Victory Heights villages completed
DUBAI’S Victory Heights celebrated the successful completion of all construction work by Al Jaber Group, which was contracted in July 2007 to build the first three villages in the luxury golfing residential community.

Al Jaber Group, based in Abu Dhabi, was contracted to build the three villages of Oliva, Estella and Esmeralda which includes 573 of the 784 luxury villas that make up Phase-One of the development which surrounds the award-winning The Els Club golf course.

The Villa owners move in
DUBAI Properties Group (DPG), a member of Dubai Holding, said 160 families have moved into The Villa Phase-One and Phase Two, a Spanish-style residential retreat in the heart of Dubailand.

The Villa Phase-Two comprises 219 Spanish-style villas in a serene residential community.

The Villa, surrounded by desert landscape, is a tranquil and exclusive enclave off the Al Ain Highway.

$1.36bn Al Salam Street on target
A major road and tunnel project being built at a cost of Dh5 billion ($1.36 billion) by Abu Dhabi Municipality will open to traffic in August next year.

The Al Salam Street tunnel project is set for full completion in January 2012 but will become operational as early as August. The project will provide an uninterrupted traffic corridor in central Abu Dhabi through the construction of interchanges and tunnels, and the widening of existing roads. Al Salam Street is a main traffic route through the capital.

The largest contract, worth Dh3.1 billion ($843 million), is being carried out by a joint venture of Samsung C&T and Abu Dhabi’s Saif Bin Darwish and is due for completion in January 2012. Turkey’s Nurol is set to complete a second, Dh760-million contract ($206 million), as is M A Kharafi and Sons, which is set to finish work on a third Dh833-million ($226 million) contract. Abu Dhabi’s Hilal Bil Badi & Partners Contracting Company completed its portion of the project under a Dh67.6 million ($18.4 million) contract.

Shaikh Zayed Bridge launched
THE UAE President Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan  opened the Shaikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi last month. The bridge is 24.2-m wide with four carriageways, a pedestrian crossing and a hard shoulder in both directions, providing a buffer area for vehicles and emergency. With as many as 666 concrete pillars, the bridge is designed to withstand winds with speed of up to 160 km per hour. It has three sand dune-shaped arches, linked together by concrete blocks, which are reinforced with steel wires.

RAK Ceramics passes Nata test
RAK Ceramics’ sanitary ware testing laboratory has won Australian accreditation in the field of mechanical testing. The National Association of Testing Authorities (Nata) granted the accreditation based on the laboratory’s compliance with Nata requirements that include ISO/IEC 17025 and its ability to perform specific tests and operate in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025.

“This confirms that the quality of our products and testing methods fully meet Australian standards, especially with regard to water conservation,” said  RAK Ceramics chief executive officer Dr Khater Massaad.

Metro to revise expansion plans
DUBAI Metro’s second line is on track for commercial operation in August next year but further expansion plans are likely to be revised. “The purple line, blue line... all will be revisited again. Studies are there but when to initiate the process will be announced in 2011,” Adnan Al Hammadi, chief executive of the Rail Agency of Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority, said.

The first phase known as the Red Line began operations in September last year while Phase Two, the Green Line, will start in August 2011.