Dubai: Arabtec has been awarded a contract worth Dh900 million to build two colleges in Kuwait in conjunction with a local firm, the company said yesterday.
Arabtec's share of the work at the Sabah Al Salem University will take 42 months to complete with the rest being built by Kuwait's Combined Group Company.
The full cost of the project is valued at Dh1.5 billion and includes the construction and external works of four buildings, comprising a basement and six floors over a total area of 226,000 square metres, at the Colleges of Arts and Education.
Riad Kamal, CEO of Arabtec Holding PJSC, said: "We are proud to be associated with this prestigious project in partnership with the Combined Group Company PLC, a leading publicly listed construction company in Kuwait.
"The award of this project is yet another solid step in our successful geographic expansion strategy and we look forward to more successful awards in the State of Kuwait."
Last month, Arabtec announced contracts worth Dh623 million to build two residential projects in Abu Dhabi and a staff accommodation building in Fujairah.
"This is the fourth award year-to-date, which now amount to Dh2.32 billion taking the total backlog up to Dh17.15 billion [excluding Russia and Ras Al Khaimah]," an analyst at Shuaa Capital said, adding that the Dubai backlog contribution continues to diminish; 72 per cent of the current effective backlog is now outside the emirate.
Ziyad Makhzoumi, Arabtec's Chief Financial Officer, said the company was primarily looking at projects in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Syria.
He said: "The sentiment in the market is positive and we have recently been awarded several contracts in the sectors in which we operate. "We hope this will continue as there are lots of projects on offer across the GCC and further afield."
