It has recently completed work on the Al Mostaqbal Homes at Hayy Assafarat in Riyadh; and the modification to the South Terminal at King Abdul Aziz International Airport

The company has recently opened a Specialities Division to meet today's requirements for specialised construction.

Outlining the reasons behind launching the division, Ghassan El Khazin, area manager comments says: "While construction of new structures remains a promising sector in which Almabani continues to keep a leading pace, the remarkable growth for specialised contracting and concrete repairs posed a challenge, given Almabani's commitment to enhancing its skills to meet client's needs with a quality output. This commitment to quality gave birth to the formation of Almabani General Contractors Specialities Division."

Almabani Specialities Division is currently executing concrete repair projects for the SWCC including the rehabilitation of Al Khobar Power and Desalination Plant Phase II and rehabilitation of concrete structures at SWCC's Jeddah Plants (J2, J3, J4).

Almabani Specialities Division's expertise covers the following activities:

Commenting on how business levels have been over the past year, El Khazin, says: "Business has been good. We have had better days but Almabani is optimistic about the situation in general.

" There are a lot of projects coming in the next few years and we hope to get our share. Our vision is to grow into new fields of construction because of our confidence that we can deliver a quality product. We are also looking at overseas projects.

"The volume of business has been close to last year's levels but we are concentrating on new clients, team building and training. We have increased our focus on industrial jobs and are trying to break into oil and gas construction sectors as well as expanding in the international arena. We aim to introduce continuous in-house training of the team."

Almabani also intends to obtain ISO 9000 certification.

"The company has been operating under the ISO system but no time has been spent on a formal audit. We will do this next year," he explains.

Commenting on the Saudi construction market, he says: "Construction activity has been fair over the past year. We expect quite a few projects to get tendered this year. We foresee quite a bit of construction activities in the next five years."

Almabani General Contractors employs around 2,400 personnel; 300 of whom are management and support staff, while 2,100 are technical and field personnel of various trades.

Almabani has an average annual turnover of $230 million. Current projects being implemented by the company are worth $240 million.

Almabani General Contractors has established branch offices in Riyadh for the central region, and Dhahran for the eastern region, while its headquarters in Jeddah covers the western region. Almabani also has an office in Beirut, which oversees construction operation in Lebanon. Its branch offices in Paris and London conduct overseas procurement activities.

"Almabani's activities are aimed at always meeting the expectations of its existing and new customers through the provision of a wide range of general contracting skills and services; while completing work on time, within the budget, with zero defects.

"In achieving these objectives, Almabani understands the importance of operating a formal quality system wherein all of the staff recognise their responsibilities towards quality and service to the customer. The company maintains its leading position by monitoring and continuously improving its quality management system through the application of ISO 9001:1994.

Almabani General Contractors employs subcontractors and suppliers who can demonstrate their commitment to quality. Our manpower policy is to provide a skilled, well-trained and flexible workforce," El Khazin concludes.