ADIH signs MoU with Al Areen
Manama: Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) has last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the developers of Al Areen project, in Bahrain, to develop four residential and commercial clusters at a cost of $335 million.

These new projects, spread over a 235,295 sq m area along the southern region of the Al Areen development, will offer views of the Al Areen Wildlife Park and Reserve.
The project is expected to be completed in two years.
Bahrain to break materials monopoly
Manama: The Cabinet has agreed to break the monopoly on building materials by giving the private sector the green light to import and sell large quantities of materials in an attempt to fuel Bahrain’s building boom.
The materials that can be freely imported include cement and concrete elements – providing they match quality and technical standards.
The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, approved plans for firms to import materials from different suppliers, and then sell them at affordable prices to consumers.
The ministries of Interior, Industry and Commerce, Works and Housing and Finance have been asked to study the possibility of allocating sites overlooking coastal areas for unloading and distributing imported material.
Hyundai wins power lines deal
Riyadh: Hyundai Engineering and Construction has won a total of $279 million in orders to build power transmission lines and a substation in Saudi Arabia, the South Korean builder said.
Under the contracts with Saudi Electricity, Hyundai will build 450 km of power lines by July 2008 and the substation by August 2009, the company said.
Work set to start on Bahrain’s suq
Manama: Construction work on the first phase of the Manama suq development is set to start within a month, with three contractors submitting bids with a value around BD3 million ($7.96 million) to the Tender Board.
One of them will be appointed shortly, said Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry undersecretary Dr Juma Al Kaabi.
Bids were submitted by Bokowa Contracting, Almoayyed Contracting and Hafeera Construction.
Work is expected to start within a month and completed within 18 months.
Bahrain saves $200m in three years
Manama: Bahrain has saved BD75 million ($199.4 million) in three years on government projects and purchases, thanks to tight monitoring by the Tender Board, according to a report.
Since its inception in 2003, the board has awarded about 4,000 tenders for projects totalling BD1.25 billion.
Exhibitors triple at bauma China
Shanghai: More than 2,100 exhibitors spanning the construction sector have registered to take part in bauma China 2006, which opens on November 21 in Shanghai.
The four-day show, which is being organised by the German company Messe Munchen International (MMI), has become the largest building industry exhibition in Asia with show participation more than tripling since the previous event in 2004, which attracted 738 exhibitors.
MMI says it is allotting more than 140,000 sq m of space for the show, which will be staged in Shanghai’s new International Expo Centre.
The exhibition is expected to draw more than 50,000 visitors from across China and beyond.
MMI is one of the world’s leading trade-fair companies. It organises around 40 annual trade fairs for capital and consumer goods, and key high-tech industries.
Palme sees record attendance
Dubai: The fourth annual Palme 2006 exhibition attracted an all-time record visitor audience that saw a 30 per cent increase on the previous year’s figures during its recent three-day run at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
With the Gulf’s sound, light, music, audio-visual and systems integration technologies business now generating more than $3 billion a year, Palme has been growing in international significance, says IIR Exhibitions director Darren Brechin.
More than 600 exhibitors took part in the show, considered to be the region’s only exhibition of professional sound, light, music, audio-visual and systems integration technologies. The event also included three dedicated shows: Install, Event 360 and Musac.
 Palme 2006 was by far the largest ever staged, having grown by over 50 per cent from 2005.
“With lighting now an essential consideration in the design and construction of more buildings, Install 2006 featured a specially created Architectural Lighting and Interior Illumination Zone,” he continues. “This dedicated area put the focus on permanent and temporary lighting installations for all types of buildings and events.”
Brechin says another new feature at this year’s show was the introduction of the Middle East Lighting Design Awards for 2007.
“Our objective is to further encourage and stimulate creativity in the field of architectural lighting by recognising creativity and innovation in the lighting design field,” he notes.
The three-day Palme 2007 will open on May 20 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.