DUBAI construction firm Al Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG), an affiliate of Australia’s Leighton Holdings, is eyeing two contract wins in Saudi Arabia worth up to SR10 billion each ($2.67 billion) by the year end, its top executive said.

“We would think that in the next six to 12 months there will be a couple of substantial orders,” Laurie Voyer, the firm’s chief executive and managing director told the Reuters Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit in Dubai.    

Voyer said Al Habtoor Leighton is not looking to announce writedowns for its projects in the UAE and that it would be unlikely to need further cash from its parent firm.

Voyer said in April it may need a cash injection from its parent firm if its ongoing legacy projects are not paid on time.

Construction firms have been rapidly expanding operations outside the UAE, where house prices in Dubai plunged some 60 per cent from their peaks in 2008, and billions of dollars worth of projects were put on hold or cancelled.