Almoayyed enters district cooling
Manama: Bahrain-based Almoayyed Contracting Group, which comes under the umbrella of Y K Almoayyed & Sons, has joined hands with Megajana Sdn Bhd of Malaysia to establish the Almoayyed-Megajana District Cooling Company.

The BD5 million ($13.3 million) Bahraini-Malaysian joint venture company will enter the district cooling system market, which offers substantial advantages to end-users and owners by providing efficient air-conditioning systems, said Y K Almoayyed group chairman Farouk Almoayyed.
“We shall be bidding for major projects like the Bahrain Financial Harbour, the Sheraton Tower and Durrat Al Bahrain,” said Almoayyed.
Megajana general manager Azharuddin Ismail said his firm, which has been active in the field over the past 12 years,  is currently selling chilled water to a number of buildings in Malaysia as a district cooling utility provider.

Copri wins Kuwait ring-road project
Kuwait: The Ministry of Public Works has awarded local Copri Construction Enterprises the KD23.78 million ($80.6 million) contract for the fifth ring-road extension in Kuwait.
The project includes an upgrade of the three-km-long section between Fahaheel expressway and Al-Taawin Street, part of Abdul Kareem Al-Khatabi Street into a motorway and modifications to existing intersections and roundabouts.
Works will also include a redesign of the interchange on the crossing of the fifth ring-road and the Fahaheel expressway through replacing the existing traffic signals with free traffic ramps; modifications to the existing interchanges on the crossing of the fifth ring-road and the airport road by the construction of a clover-leaf structure, and improvements to the design of the 4.5-km-long access road to Kuwait International Airport from Farwaniyah.
Construction will start in November and is expected to complete by November 2007.

MSCEB to design Gajria HQ
Manama: Gajria Electronics, one of the leading business houses in Bahrain, has appointed Mohammed Salahuddin Consulting Engineering Bureau (MSCEB) as the design and supervision consultant for its new BD3 million ($7.95 million) headquarters.
The project, which will occupy  a 1,409 sq m plot in Sanabis, comprises a 10-storey building with a penthouse and two basements, and showrooms on the ground and mezzanine levels.
Floors one to eight will accommodate offices while the ninth floor and part of 10th floor will have apartments, with a total built-up area of 12,200 sq m.

BFH makes rapid headway
Manama: More than 10 per cent of the first phase of the Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH) has been completed. The ambitious $1.3 billion project is going ahead as per schedule in the heart of Manama, said BFH Holding Company chairman Esam Janahi.
Phase one includes the Financial Centre, which will house the Dual Towers, Financial Mall and the Harbour House.
Currently, there are 300 workers and employees on site, 33 per cent of whom are Bahrainis, said Esam Janahi.
The first phase work is being undertaken by the UAE-based Al Hamad Construction and Development Company.
“The company has succeeded in achieving about 300,000 accident-free working hours,” said Janahi.
Additionally, eight Bahraini companies have been subcontracted in this phase of the development, he added.
Foundation work for the Harbour House would start soon, while piling work for the Dual Towers has been completed, said Ahmed Janahi of Ahmed Janahi Architects.
The structural work for the Dual Towers and the Financial Mall is progressing according to schedule. Though the scheduled completion time of the Financial Centre is 32 months from now, the project is expected to be completed ahead of schedule, by the end of 2006, said Esam Janahi.

Toco lands $5m contract in Oman
Muscat: Daleel Petroleum (DP) has awarded Oman Construction Company (Toco) a RO1.9 million ($5 million) engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract on a water flooding scheme at block five in the north of the sultanate.
The project covers the installation of 21 km of pipeline from the well field area to Mazrouk.
Consolidated Pipes Industry, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Amiantit Group, is the nominated pipeline supplier.

Belgian firm wins jetty project
Muscat: The Ministry of Defence has awarded Belgium’s Six Construct the RO6.3 million ($16.5 million) contract to carry out the Ras Musandam jetty project, in Oman.
The contract covers the construction of a jetty pier dredged to a depth of 12 m and support buildings, including a small power generation plant.
A team of the UK’s Halcrow with the local Ibn Khaldun Consultant Engineers is the consultant for the project.
The contract is to be carried out over a 14-month period.

MAF to invest $90m in The Wave
Muscat: Majid Al Futtaim Investments is to invest $90 million (RO35 million) in the development of Phase One of The Wave, Oman’s ambitious $805 million tourism project, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Muscat.
Majid Al Futtaim Investments was selected from amongst several regional and international companies who had bid to become the development partner with the government. The MOU was signed with Oman’s Waterfront Investments (WI) and the National Investment Funds Company (Nifco), representing Omani pension funds and the State General Reserve Fund.
The deal sets up a joint venture company to launch The Wave, a new integrated residential and tourism resort along 7.4 km of pristine coastline in the Seeb district of Muscat. Once the new development company is incorporated, work will begin to reclaim land, build the infrastructure and construct select landmarks of The Wave such as an 18-hole PGA golf course and a marina with yacht club.

Foster Wheeler wins acetyl complex deal
Jubail: Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) has appointed UK-based Foster Wheeler (FW) Energy Limited as the project management services contractor for its acetyl complex at Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia.
FW, as an integrated project management team, and Sipchem will jointly develop the technical and commercial scope, select engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and manage the project.
The basic design, front-end engineering and design (FEED) packages will be ready by June 2005 and EPC contracts are expected to award by end of 2005. Production of acetic acid and vinyl acetate are expected by third quarter of 2008.

Chemtex 2005 to be bigger
Dubai: Iran and Malaysia are already planning to expand their presence at next year’s Chemtex and Corrosion Middle East, and Canada looks likely to have a pavilion for the first time.
Exhibitors at the region’s only international exhibition for the chemical, petrochemical, chemical process technology, corrosion control and management industries have voted this year’s event, held last month, a grand success.
Iran’s SINA Chemical Industries picked up orders worth more than $800,000 from four Dubai companies on the first day. Mohammad Ghodrat, commercial deputy at the company which specialises in resins, said: “This is the first time we have participated and have already done some good business. Our current exports are worth $3 million so taking part has been a major boost to these sales.”
The Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (METDC) is also set to return and is planning a pavilion with 15 exhibitors.

Cara to promote design excellence
Dubai: Cityscape, the international commercial architecture and property development event, has teamed up with Architectural Review  for this year’s Architectural Awards at Cityscape 2004 – “Design for an Emerging World”.
Architectural Review is one of the leading architectural magazine in the world with an audited circulation of over 20,000 copies. 
“The aim of the Cityscape Architectural Review Awards (Cara) is to recognise and promote excellence in architecture and design in the region. To have Architectural Review supporting this year’s show is testimony to Cityscape’s phenomenal growth in the past three years and our outstanding reputation amongst the international architecture fraternity,” said Neil Hickman, project manager for the organiser IIR.
“Six of the most acclaimed architects from around the world will use their knowledge and expertise to judge the entries based on a number of important criteria including the project’s contribution to world architectural culture, invention and imagination, environmental awareness and appropriateness,” he added.