Dubai's Arabtec Gets AED280M Building Contract For Jumeriah Village

Wednesday, Aug 17, 2011

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Dubai's Arabtec Holding (ARABTEC.DFM), the emirate's largest building firm, said Wednesday it has been awarded a 280 million U.A.E. dirham ($76 million) contract from Nakheel for the construction of 177 new, and the completion of 346, villas and townhouses at Jumeriah Village Circle in Dubai.

Arabtec, in a statement posted on the Dubai Financial Market website, said the project will take 22 months to complete. The scope of work includes the execution, completion and remedying of conventional and specialised villas and townhouses in the development.

"Arabtec has a long established working relationship of mutual trust and confidence with Nakheel and the new award reflects Nakheel's commitment to its clients and the real-estate market," Arabtec's Chief Executive Officer Riad Kamal said.

Arabtec has been hit hard by a severe downturn in Dubai's property market where prices have slumped by about 50% since late 2008 and many projects are on hold or cancelled. The company has recently begun to diversify away from dependence on contracts in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, and looking at new markets such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt.

The firm's shares closed trading Wednesday 1.5% up at AED1.37 in a flat overall market.

-By Tim Falconer, Dow Jones Newswires; +9714 446-1690; tim.falconer@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

17-08-11 1059GMT