Work starts on DCV's mega terminal
Dubai: Construction works for the Dh800 million ($218 million) mega terminal within Dubai Cargo Village (DCV) have started.

Also preparations for utilities for the new facility are under way to add one more gate to the existing one, a DCV official said.
Ali Khalfan Al Jallaf, DCV director, said that the new gate will be ready in three months’ time. After that work on a new bridge connecting the DCV with the Dubai-Sharjah highway will start.

Fourth bridge to span Dubai Creek
Dubai: Construction of the Ras Al Khor Bridge – the fourth bridge over Dubai Creek – is expected to begin in December. The Dh1.1-billion ($299 million) project is scheduled for completion in two years, said a senior planner.
The project will be completed in three phases, said engineer Mattar Mohammad Al Tayer, assistant director-general for projects and roads. The work will be finished by September 2006, he added.
The bridge will have five lanes in each direction, with the option of a sixth and is designed to ease traffic on Shaikh Zayed Road, Al Garhoud Bridge, Al Maktoum Bridge and the Shindagha Tunnel.

ETA Star launches two projects
Dubai: ETA Star, the property development arm of the ETA-Ascon Group, has launched two major freehold residential projects in the UAE – Palladium and Belvedere.
The 33-storey Palladium towers, set in Jumeirah Lakes Towers’ luxurious surroundings, is part of Dubai’s newest residential development and offers waterside and marina views, along with one-, two- and three- bed apartments, penthouses, retail and office space and a lobby packed with restaurants and boutiques.
Construction begins early next year and will complete by mid-2007. The seven-storey Belvedere, located at the south-western end of Dubai Marina, is expected to be ready for occupation next year.

Work on The Palm 55pc complete
Dubai: Work on Dubai’s The Palm Jebel Ali is on schedule with 55 per cent of the reclamation completed below and above sea level and 30 per cent reclamation visible above water. In addition, the reclamation of over four fronds has been completed with several to follow in rapid succession. Also reported was the completion of the trunk and the swift rising from the sea of the Crescent.

Armada Towers contract awarded
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi-based APCC has won the Dh12 million ($3.3 million) contract for the piling work for Armada Towers in Dubai.
The tower is being developed by Armada Group, one of the UAE’s top investment organisations.

Qatar Cool wins two more buildings
Dubai: Qatar Cool has signed up two new buildings for its District Cooling Scheme in West Bay, Doha.
An official said Al Dana Tower and The Residential Tower – two innovative building projects of the International Trade and Development Company – would be part of the new district cooling scheme.
Al Dana Tower, will provide 29,000 sq m of office space with 10,000 sq m of parking.
Built to a very high specification and exciting design, the new tower incorporates many interesting features.
Notable amongst these is the spherical conference room located on the 20th floor and anchored at only two points.
Resembling a Gulf Pearl, it is this conference room that gives the Tower its name.
The Residential Tower will be a 30-storey residential complex providing 270 one-, two- and three-bed apartments, leisure facilities, cafeteria and parking.
Both buildings are due to be completed in 2006.

Committee to finalise cement price
Dubai: A committee commissioned to stabilise cement prices in the UAE will set a final price range for cement and make cement factories comply to this band for at least five to 10 years, a report said.
Violators of the price band will be fined, a senior UAE government official from the committee was quoted as saying by the Gulf News.
According to the report, the official said that several construction companies had put projects on hold because of the increase in cement price. This resulted in delaying completion of projects.
The committee includes representatives from cement companies and the construction companies.
 
Building durability takes spotlight
Dubai: A raft of measures are needed to ensure the durability of buildings in the UAE, and across the wider Gulf region, a building design expert has said.
Dr Abdul-Rahim Sabouni, president of the UAE Chapter of the American Concrete Institute and a building design expert at Abu Dhabi Works Department, highlighted that the service life of reinforced concrete is significantly lower in the UAE than in other parts of the world.
He was speaking on the first day of the Annual Concrete Technology and Corrosion Protection Conference, held as part of Gulf Construction Conference week, at Dubai’s Emirates Towers hotel.
Sabouni told more than 50 delegates that the root of the problem lies in a number of factors, including the harsh, high salinity of the local environment, designers specifying concrete in an insufficient manner, and a workforce dominated by expatriates with differing qualifications, knowledge, training and experience.

ETA powers Dubai Festival City
Dubai: ETA Ascon’s Power Projects Division has completed work on a new 132/11 kV substation for The Dubai Festival City site.
The project, costing Dh37 million ($10.07 million), will provide power for the ‘city within a city’.

ADP to plan RAK airport
Ras Al Khaimah: The RAK Civil Aviation Department (CAD) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with France’s Aeroports de Paris International (ADPi) for implementing a comprehensive plan to renovate and expand the airport’s services, as well as to promote it worldwide.
The plan is also a part of an overall strategy to promote RAK as a unique tourism destination that combines wonderful seashores, sand dunes and mountainous areas and to meet the ever-increasing demands of the emirate’s national and expatriate population, as well as the inbound and outbound tourism.

Work on $68m mall on schedule
Abu Dhabi: Work on Abu Dhabi’s Dh250 million ($68 million) Khalidiyah Mall is progressing well and it is expected to be completed as scheduled in April 2006.
Contracts for all the major works have been awarded and negotiations are in the final stage with over 160 brands from across the world for their presence in the prestigious mall. The proposed hypermarket at the mall is slated to be the biggest in the UAE.

Dragon Mart opens
Dubai: Dragon Mart, the largest trading hub for products from China being developed outside the Chinese mainland, at Nakheel’s International City development in the Al Warsan area of Dubai, has been opened.
The 1.2 km long dragon shaped structure is a permanent exhibition space comprising showrooms and business facilities.
The development, which is being jointly promoted by Nakheel and Chinamex Middle East Investment and Trade Promotion Centre, is spread over an area of 150,000 sq m in addition to 30,000 sq m of warehouses.

Dubailand to get $4bn investment
Dubai: About Dh15 billion ($4.08 billion) will be invested in Dubailand projects over the next five years, according to the developers of the largest family entertainment project in the Middle East.
“There are 30 projects of different sizes under consideration with some nearing completion and we expect to announce another four new projects by the end of the year. At this stage, we are working on the construction of our sales centre, which will start operating before the end of March 2005,” Salem Bin Dasmal, chief executive at Dubailand said.