Dubai: Dubai-based builder Arabtec Holding said in a statement on Monday that its subsidiary Arabtec Construction had won a Dh5.7 billion contract to build a resort in Aqaba in Jordan.
After winning the contract, Arabtec (ARTC) closed on Monday at Dh3.48, up 3.57 per cent from the previous closing, according to the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) website.
Developed by an international fund, Red Sea Astrarium LP, the project, called the Red Sea Astrarium, will feature four hotels, retail, dining and entertainment facilities, such as a cinema and a water park, as well as a man-made lagoon.
The project has a “high value and significant contribution to our long-term investment, which will translate [into] sustainable returns to our shareholders,” Hasan Esmaik, managing director and CEO of Arabtec, said in the statement.
The development is expected to boost Jordan’s tourism industry and offer economic benefits for nearby communities and businesses, according to the statement, which said construction is expected to begin in the third quarter of this year, with a soft opening targeted for the third quarter of 2017.
Arabtec is working in Jordan on the St Regis Amman hotel and the Saraya Aqaba development, which includes hotels and offices. Arabtec’s project backlog advanced to nearly Dh40 billion, according to the statement.
A resurgence in the UAE’s real estate market, where prices more than halved from their 2008 peak, is helping developers and contractors recover from the financial crisis. Arabtec, the largest publicly traded builder in the UAE, was awarded a Dh2.59 billion mixed-use project in Abu Dhabi on January 14. The company also set up a real estate unit in December that will focus on building affordable homes in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco.
“This contract is really the continuation of all the right things the company has done in 2013,” Sanyalaksna Manibhandu, a senior analyst at NBAD Securities LLC, said by phone from Abu Dhabi. The size of the project backlog is also “very impressive,” he said.
— With inputs from agencies
