Kuwait eyes $2bn airport works
Kuwait City: Kuwait is to expand its international airport at a cost of  $2.1 billion, Communications Minister Maassouma Al Mubarak has announced.

The project includes infrastructure work, expanding the airport’s two runways and building a new runway, he said.
The ministry has already signed a contract with consultants for the project, said the minister who gave no timeline for its completion.
The expansion is expected to double the airport's capacity.
The international airport, built about three decades ago, currently handles around four to five million passengers a year.
SRO invites bids for rail line
Riyadh: The Saudi Railway Organisation (SRO) has invited bids from specialised national and international companies for the 500-km Makkah-Madinah Rail Link (MMRL) project. “The project aims at providing a safe, fast, reliable and comfortable mode of transport for Umrah and Haj pilgrims travelling between the two cities and Jeddah,” said the SRO.
Economists expect participation from major European, American and Japanese companies in the project, which will be implemented on a design, build, operate and transfer (DBOT) basis.
Steel demand to go up
Doha: The demand for construction materials such as  iron and steel in the Gulf countries is likely to jump by 31 per cent by 2008 compared to 2005.
The GCC’s domestic demand for iron and steel products will climb to 19.7 million tonnes in 2008 from 15 million in 2005, according to a Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) report.
“Looking at the massive construction projects we are seeing in the region, it is quite obvious that we’re are seeing a boom in the iron and steel industry in the Gulf,” an analyst at the GOIC’s Industrial Market Intelligence Department said.
Investments by the GCC countries in iron and steel products manufacturing totalled $6.5 billion in 2005, according to the report.
Almoayyed in BMS deal
Manama: Almoayyed Trading & Contracting, part of the Almoayyed International Group, has signed a strategic agreement with the US-based Automated Logic Corporation (ALC), to launch its building management solutions (BMS) in Bahrain.
ALC is one of the largest manufacturers of hardware and software products used in monitoring, controlling and automating electro-mechanical systems within buildings in North America.