Emaar Properties is expected to choose from among the six companies who have submitted bids for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) contract for Burj Dubai, this month.

The company that wins the award will form part of the Dh3.3 billion ($900 million) contract awarded to a consortium led by South Korea’s Samsung Corporation.
Fred Durie, Emaar Properties’ senior director for development projects, said recently, “We have already received bids from six to seven contenders for the MEP package.
“They are under evaluation and we expect to make an announcement by end-July. We have awarded some of the sub-contract packages for Burj Dubai.”
Otis of the US has been awarded a contract to supply and install up to 54 lifts, while Switzerland’s Schmidlin has won a contract for the tower’s cladding.
Emaar is also expected to award a contract this month to construct an underground car-park, which is part of the boulevard project.
“The first phase of the lake, part of the overall development, is under construction. The lake will complement the overall feel of the boulevard and make it a destination for visitors,” Durie added.
“Tendering for the lake hotel package is currently on and bids will close on July 25. We hope to announce the winner in a few months time following that.”
Eight international chain and boutique hotels will be an integral part of the 500-acre Burj Dubai development. These will add over 2,000 rooms to Dubai's booming hotel industry.
Emaar Properties has recently signed an agreement with Southern Sun Hotels, the leading hotel group in the southern hemisphere, to manage and operate two hotels within the prestigious development.
Scheduled to open at the end of 2006, the properties will be located in Burj Dubai’s Old Town area and will offer 21 suites and more than 350 rooms, ranging from king, queen, double and twin rooms, as well as a host of amenities from business centres, swimming pools, all day diners, conference and meeting rooms, speciality restaurants, coffee shops and more.
The Business Park at Burj Dubai will consist of a number of commercial towers. Bu Haleeba Contracting and Al Nakhreh Contracting have been awarded two packages for the construction of office towers.
“The contract value of each package is about Dh300 million. Each package consists of three office towers, underground parking facilities, landscaping and associated facilities,” said Durie.
Around Dh10 billion worth of contracts have been awarded so far for the overall Burj Dubai development, the construction cost of which could shoot up to Dh20 billion, according to a senior official.
"We have awarded about 30 construction packages, valued at a total of Dh10 billion, including the most important components, Burj Dubai and Dubai Mall," said Durie.
"These roughly account for about 50 per cent of the total construction works at the Burj Dubai development. We have another 40 packages to tender and award, and works are progressing as per schedule," he said.
In another development, Emaar has awarded a key contract to Trane, the air-conditioning systems and services business of American Standard Companies, to supply part of what will become one of the biggest district cooling networked systems in the world.
The state-of-the-art system will service the Burj Dubai development.
The premier property developer has embarked on an ambitious project to build three district cooling plants (DCPs), designed by Allied Consultants, at the Burj Dubai site. These will support a sophisticated system that will offer a total capacity of 145,000 tonnes of refrigeration (TR).
An estimated 41,000 tons of air-conditioning equipment will be involved in servicing the Burj Dubai tower and The Dubai Mall.
Hadi Ismail, director – technical services, Emaar Properties, said: “Due to the height of Burj Dubai, and in order to achieve design temperatures at the top of the tower we decided with Allied Consultants to use special low-temperature chillers. The ice storage serves as a back-up cooling system in case of a major failure.”
The central cooling plant will use the latest technology, based on low temperature chillers run on a special glycol solution, to deliver chilled water to the buildings.
Under the terms of the deal, Trane will provide 20 CenTravac centrifugal chillers.
Trane has fast-tracked development of the chillers and four of these will be ready for delivery in November and the remainder by January of next year.
The huge plant will service all components of the tower development, from the private residences, hotel, corporate offices and observation deck to the retail space as well as The Dubai Mall.
Emaar District Cooling, the newly established company, will be operating and managing these central plants.