UAE | General
Region's infrastructure projects help materials suppliers grow
More than 1,000 exhibitors at electricity conference held in Dubai
- By Derek Baldwin, Chief Reporter
- Published: 00:00 February 8, 2012
- Image Credit: Pankaj Sharma/Gulf News
- Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd visits a stall after inaugurating the Middle East Electricity Exhibition at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Tuesday.
Dubai: Corporations with a heavy stake in the power, water and energy sector in the Middle East are buzzing thanks to a bevy of expensive infrastructure projects throughout the region that are pushing growth well into double digits.
Led by aggressive project growth in Saudi Arabia, more than 113 new infrastructure projects are under construction, worth an estimated $180 billion (Dh661.1 billion), said organisers of the Middle East Electricity Conference, launched yesterday.
More than 1,000 exhibitors were on hand at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The event runs until tomorrow.
The show was opened by Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd, Minister of Environment and Water, who toured all eight halls and spoke with more than a dozen company officials who told him they are investing tens of millions of dirhams in the UAE.
Mohammad Khair Al Zoabi, corporate communications manager of Bahra Cables based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said his four-year-old cable manufacturing company is growing at a phenomenal rate and shows no sign of slowing.
With a branch in Abu Dhabi and bolstered by double-digit growth annually, Bahra Cables now has more than 500 employees and manufactures low and medium-voltage cables in the region.
"Growth has been very good for us," Al Zoabi told Gulf News yesterday at the conference.
"We are expanding and adding more products. In Saudi Arabia we are working with a lot of new projects."
High optimism
Al Zoabi said he expects his company to exceed growth figures for 2012 as more Middle East countries build projects to meet business and population demand. Estimates project two per cent annual population growth in the region for the foreseeable future.
High optimism prevails at Dubai-based cable manufacturer Ducab which is owned by both Abu Dhabi and Dubai investors.
Andrew Shaw, managing director, told Gulf News yesterday that the company is meeting increased demand and will be in a better position to meet increased infrastructure construction across the region thanks to its new Jebel Ali plant that opened late last year.
The 22,000 square-metre plant is expected to go fully online in mid-2013, he said in an interview, and will provide both high-voltage and extra-high-voltage cables.
Noting there is "huge growth for power cables," Shaw said the company's new $500 million plant will produce 30,000 tonnes of high-voltage cables every year.
Employee strength
Shaw said Ducab employs 1,100 workers.
Much of the new high-voltage cable being produced by Ducab is being tested before distribution throughout the region where utility companies are wiring cities and new development.
The cables are being deployed underground, Shaw said, to avoid unsightly overhead transmission lines.
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