Projects in the region have now reached more than $1 trillion.

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25 Apr 2006

Projects planned, or already under development, in the Gulf have reached more than $1 trillion, according to new market figures from MEED projects.

Research from Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) Projects shows that the total value of projects has risen by more than $250 billion in the first three months of 2006 alone, and exceeded $1 trillion in the first week of April. The projects market in the region is now the biggest globally on a per capita basis, while the Middle East has the second largest share of project finance in the world.

Ayman Razek, general manager of MEED projects, said: "From the statistics we have at our fingertips, the Gulf economic boom will last for at least five more years. The growth seen in Dubai in the last five years is now happening in Abu Dhabi, and across the GCC. Project values are at an all-time high through a combination of a GCC-wide construction boom, through infrastructure development, energy initiatives and public and private sector initiatives, as well as associated rises in building material costs."

Being the Gulf’s largest construction market, the UAE has active projects worth almost $300 billion, mostly in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, although major schemes are implemented in the other five emirates. The construction sector in the region is now the biggest globally on a per capita basis, and the Middle East accounts for the second largest share of project finance in the world.

The total value of projects in the GCC is now $881 billion; the balance is in Iran, where there are active projects of $97 billion, and Iraq, with $27 billion worth of projects under way. More than half of the projects in the Gulf are in general construction sectors.

There are $228 billion worth of oil and gas projects, $106 billion of petrochemical projects, $70 billion of power and water projects, $44 billion of industrial projects and $15 billion of wastewater and sewerage MEED projects tracks all projects worth more than $50 million in the GCC, Iran and Iraq.