Dh500m contracts up for grabs at Airport Show in Dubai

Dubai: Contracts of Dh500 million will potentially go through at the Airport Show in Dubai next week from the Dh220 billion total worth of airports projects underway in and around the Middle East region.

Project owners from various airport developments will offer contracts on airport building, equipment and services.

Of the current developments, the largest investment will be seen in Al Maktoum International at Jebel Ali, UAE worth $8 billion (Dh29.36), that will become the largest airport in the world with an annual handling of 160 million passengers once complete.

Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports said that contracts for technical process at the new airport in Jebel Ali would be available. The management company is also looking for partners for projects on future technology integration, especially in the departure processes.

"This is a long-term infrastructure business. We will continue to invest significantly in technology, in the innovations, to make the best possible use of the facilities... not only to ensure maximum volume, but also to improve the quality of services," Griffiths said.

He said that the airport management company is also looking to upgrade processes at existing airports.

"There is an awful lot of catching up that the airports industry has to do in order to be able to get itself right at the forefront of service, innovation and development," he said.

The Airport Show will have 200 exhibitors, across 10,000 square metres of space, said to be the largest yet. Of the total companies represented, 30 per cent of these will be new.

At the show will be 43 airport officials from projects under-development around the region including Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah airports, Pakistan's Sialkot Airport, Iran's Qeshm International Airport, India's Durgapur, Ludhiana and Maharashtra airports, as well as airport authorities from Tunisia, Djibouti, Algeria, Bahrain, China, Kuwait and Bangladesh.

"We're announcing & a whole range of contracts for our projects division, to increase the systems of the new airports. We've got a lot of departure control systems& management systems," that will mostly be technology-based, said Griffiths said.

The construction contract for passenger terminal and control tower was awarded to the joint venture of Arabtech Construction and Max Bogl in early 2007.