Dubai: Construction industry experts in the west can only sit back in jaw-dropping awe at financial projections cast for the building sector in the Middle East over the next three years.
According to The Big 5 International Building and Construction Show that opens today in Dubai, estimates peg construction spending in the emerging markets of this region alone at more than $600 billion (Dh2.2 trillion) by 2015.
With that much revenue at stake across all sectors, the Dubai show is drawing interest from all over the globe, said Andy White, event director at The Big Five.
Attendance
"We had 36,000 visitors last year and we hope to increase that," White told Gulf News yesterday. "Our pre-registration indicates that everything is pushing toward an increase over last year's figure."
Exhibitors as well as consultants, contractors, developers, solution providers and architects are expecting to be at this year's The Big 5 in heavier numbers at the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre, he said.
In 2010, there were 2,150 exhibitors from 71 countries and 27 national pavilions. This year, the "largest building and construction show in the Mena region" is expecting "more than 2,500 exhibitors, 70 country pavilions [on] 37,800 square metres of floor space."
White said this year the four-day conference will focus more on products after requests by buyers to have more details on innovative materials that can help boost competitiveness, labour and productivity.
He noted that organisers "sat down with buyers in June and asked what issues were facing them. They wanted products that make it more innovative."
