Cairo (APD) - Cairo-based Arab Contractors won three regional construction deals in Saudi Arabia and Sudan with the total of $ 58 million in investments.
Arab Contractors won a SAR 40 million ($ 12 million) construction contract for two towers in the central area of al-Madina al-Monawara in Saudi Arabia where the Egyptian firm entered the winning bid over seven rivals from Europe, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
Ibrahim Mahlab, chairman and CEO of Arab Contractors, told Egypt's business daily, al-Alam al-Youm on Monday, that his company won another contract in Saudi Arabia worth SAR 80 million ($ 22 million) for the construction of a tunnel in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Moreover, Mahlab said that his company signed a $ 22 million contract for building a bridge across the Nile in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Arab Contractors has no intention to sell "a single part of its assets", Mahlab emphasized, denying that local rival Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) had proposed to buy any assets owned by Arab Contractors.
A state-owned firm with a workforce of over 55,000, Arab Contractors derives the bulk of its revenue from domestic contracts but figures provided on the company's website showed an increasing share of turnover from international contracts in the last two years. Its net fixed assets stood at LE 2.136 billion at end of FY 2003/2004, the company said.
OCI, a private sector enterprise that claims an employee headcount of over 40,000 in 20 countries, has numerous subsidiaries and participations in the Orascom Group of companies. The firm reported total assets of $2.1 billion at yearend 2004.
Arab Contractors secured last May a LE 350 million contract deal in the Egyptian power industry for the construction of the third unit in the second phase of al-Koreimat Power Station, as its bid was favored over the bid of OCI. [TS]
By Eman Wahby, APD Staff Writer in Cairo
© APD (Arab Press Digest) 2005
