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Dubai, UAE: The UAE's economic diversification strategy continues to create foreign investment opportunities across the construction and engineering sectors, despite the sustained low oil prices. That was the view shared today byLinks Group, one the UAE's leading providers of commercial facilitation and advisory services, during a workshopat The Big 5, the Middle East's largest construction event.
"The UAE remains a robust and sustainable marketdue to the government's strategy to diversify the national economy by 2021. Developing these new sectorswill shore up the economy, but getting there still requires massive investment in infrastructure projects. This presents excellent opportunities for foreign investors," said Simon Hobart, Group General Manager, Links Group.
According to Alpen Capital, the GCC construction sector is forecast to grow 11.3% from 2015 to 2018 to reach a value of $525.60 billion. This will make the UAE the largest projects market in the GCC, driven by factors such as favourable macroeconomics, higher government investment allocations, positive demographics and rising tourism activities.
Much of the momentum in the UAE construction sector canalso be attributed to Expo 2020 Dubai with infrastructure alone for the prestigious event expected to cost more than $9 billion, according to a recent report by the Oxford Business Group. With the UAE aiming to host the world's first sustainable Expo, it is also in need of importing sustainability expertise.
"While the UAE government remains committed to supporting and developing local enterprise, it also recognises the importance of bringing in external manpower and expertise to achieve ongoing, sustainable growth. This is particularly true in the construction and engineering sectors where specialist experience in healthcare, education, hospitality, green building, transport and logistics is being sought," said Hobart.
The UAE's ambitious infrastructure plans require tremendous investment. However, the continued low oil price means the UAE government is seeing its state revenues decline. This is another reason why the country is actively seeking foreign and private sector investment to support its pipeline of megaprojects.
Most recently,Dubai introduced a new public-private partnership (PPP) law (Law No. 22 of 2015) to help attract more private sector finance and expertise to help meet future infrastructure needs.
"The UAE is one of the most buoyant construction markets in the world. The sheer scale and urgency of what lies ahead as the country prepares for Expo 2020 requires significant investment in international expertise. Foreign companies must make sure they position themselves correctly via the most suitable means of incorporation to both capitalise on these opportunities, and safeguard their beneficial ownership interests," added Hobart.
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Marianna Wisden
Mojo PR
Tel : +971 55 552 7758
marianna@mojo-me.com
About The Links Group
Established in 2002, Links Group partners, protects & enables foreign companies to enter and exit the UAE and Qatar markets while protecting their status as business owners. It advises corporations and individuals on how best to structure a legal commercial presence in the Middle East that protects their ownership interests and affords clear succession planning.
The Links Group is the first company of its kind to be endorsed by the Government of Dubai through a strategic alliance with the Foreign Investment Office (FDI) of the Dubai Economic Department and provides an unrivalled portfolio of corporate services including nominee local partnerships, corporate administration and government liaison support. The Links Group difference is that foreign companies work with a highly structured board as their local partner as opposed to an unknown individual. This structure provides foreign businesses with a corporate entity to act as their nominee, local partner, shareholder or sponsor, thereby minimising the risks associated with appointing an unknown individual nominee and satisfying corporate governance requirements.
The Links Group has an untarnished track record with 300 clients, who represent combined annual revenues of over USD 5bn to their respective economies.
The Links Group is also recognised as a Dubai SME 100 company, a ranking of the top performing SMEs in the emirate, and an Arabian 500 company.
© Press Release 2015
