Beirut airport opens new runway

Beirut International Airport's new western runway, built largely with Kuwaiti help, was formally opened to air traffic last month.

The 3,400-m runway, more than half of which was built on land reclaimed from the sea, allows the diversion of noisy air traffic from the skies of the Lebanese capital to its southern suburb.

A 2,500-m windbreaker was also built to protect the concrete and asphalt runway from high waves.

The project is part of $500 million expansion plan that has added a new terminal to modernise the 40-year-old airport and make it capable of handling 6 million passengers annually.

Kuwait provided $39 million of the project's total cost of $45 million.

Lebanon launched a multibillion-dollar reconstruction campaign, mostly financed by Arab and international aid, following the 1975-90 civil war.

730 buildings under way in Dubai

Dubai: A total of 730 multi-storey buildings are currently under construction in Dubai, the building and housing department at Dubai Municipality said.

The construction will add 4,622 apartments and 636 shops to the growing property sector of the emirate, said Fouzi Mohammed Al Shuhhi, head of the building control section at the department, which regulates construction activities in Dubai.

Of the new buildings, 579 are coming up in Deira offering 4,550 apartments and 630 shops while 151 were being built in Bur Dubai with 72 apartments and two shops.

Apart from the multi-storey buildings, there are 3,151 other buildings currently under construction in Dubai, of which 1,404 are in Deira, 1,652 in Bur Dubai and 95 in rural areas.

Ruwais housing units in progress

Abu Dhabi: The first phase of the Ruwais Housing Complex in Abu Dhabi, UAE, is expected to be completed in July next year.

Construction of some housing units of the Dh960 million ($261.38 million) first phase have already been completed. Phase One of the Ruwais complex comprises five packages, according to Adnoc News.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) project management team announced in August that the first 12-storey buildings (108 apartments) in package II were completed on schedule. The five multi-storey buildings (76 apartments) in package III were also completed one-and-a-half month ahead of schedule, the report said.

"Completion of the remaining apartment buildings and the four schools are on target and scheduled for completion by January 2002," said the report. Landscaping works will be completed by July.

Infrastructure nearly complete

Abu Dhabi:About 95 per cent of the infrastructure requirements of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are already in place, according to Rashed Ahmed Rashed, general manager of UAE Contractors' Association.

"Abu Dhabi, for instance, has stopped issuing licences for new ordinary commercial buildings, as their current number far exceeds actual needs,'' he said. "I believe the situation in Dubai is, in one way or the other, similar.

"But Abu Dhabi authorities have confirmed they will continue to actively promote housing projects catering to the needs of the local population and with an eye on the future."

According to Rashed, Sharjah was seeing a golden period of construction activity, but it too was nearing its requirements of major infrastructure projects. "The landscaping and greening of its districts is also on as part of a move to attract families to reside here," he said.

"In the last two years, Ajman has seen the setting up the university and the City Centre mall, which have played a major part in raising the level of activity there."

Against the wider backdrop, the number of projects hitting the markets have dropped since the heady early and mid-1990s. The number of projects has slid since 1999, though in value terms it still amounts to a substantial amount.

According to estimates, while the overall value of projects during 1999 and 2000 was about Dh20 billion ($5.4 billion), the announcement of the Dubai Festival City and Palm Islands have pushed the value to Dh40 billion.

"We are entering a new generation of projects. The present trends in the UAE construction sector are to move towards mega waterfront projects, which are very complex in their nature," said Rashed.

Bahrain projects 'on track'

Manama: Bahrain's Oil Minister Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa has said work on oil and aluminium projects worth more than $2 billion would not be affected by the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the US, according to newspapers reports

The Minister told Shura council members that "he is convinced there will be no immediate or direct impact of the current global events on oil projects and programmes, and also the upgrading of Alba (Aluminium Bahrain)", the newspapers reported.

Bahrain in September gave final approval to a $1.7 billion expansion project at Alba that will raise the smelter's output capacity by 50 per cent to 750,000 tonnes a year.

Bahrain is also in the process of modernising its ageing oil refinery, including building a new hydrocracker and upgrading the existing one to produce low sulphur diesel at a cost of $660 million. Shaikh Isa said the mordernising and upgrading of the 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) oil plant will take five years to carry out.