Tremco, the construction and glazing sealants specialist, has appointed Keith Shearman as regional director, Middle East and Africa. He moves from a similar role at the company's European headquarters in Slough near London.

Based in Dubai, UAE, Shearman will work closely with Tremco's distributors, customers and consultants throughout the Middle East.

Somoto to rebuild Allenby Bridge

Amman: Japanese construction company Somoto will start reconstructing the Allenby Bridge that links Jordan to the West Bank under a Japanese grant of 1.02 billion yen ($9.7 million). The work on the rickety bridge - also known as King Hussein Bridge - is expected to be completed in 11 months. It entails building a 120-m bridge with four lanes across the Jordan River at the site of the old bridge and rehabilitating a 8.4-km access road with two lanes.

Foton eyes nine centres in region

Dubai: Foton Edutainment, an Isle of Man-based leisure company, plans to invest Dh170 million ($46 million) to set up nine entertainment complexes in the Middle East by 2002. Foton Edutainment, which opened a leisure centre in Sharjah, said it was planning to set up five leisure centres in the UAE, starting with a complex in Ras Al Khaimah.

Two complexes are being planned in Saudi Arabia and two more in Egypt, it added.

ISO 9002 for Al Hoty-Stanger

Al Khobar: Al Hoty-Stanger Limited, one of the largest independent materials testing laboratories and consultancies in the Middle East, has received ISO9002 certification for its operation in Saudi Arabia from British Standards Institute (BSI). Its offices in the UAE have already been certified as conforming to ISO9002 standards.

The certification complements its Saudi Arabian Standards Organisation (Saso) accreditation and MEPA approval, among other quality standards.

Now entering its 25th year of operations, the firm has nine branches in the Kingdom and the UAE.

$100m hospital for Muscat

Muscat: A joint venture between Oman's Al Banan Company and Jeddah-based Saudi-German Hospitals Group plans to build a $100 million hospital in Muscat.

The construction of the hospital is expected to start in September, according to Rajiv Chowdhery, the project manager of the venture. He said the new 300-bed hospital would be the biggest private healthcare facility in Oman. Al Banan is a diversified company with interests in oil, gas, power and hotels.