Saudi Arabia, UAE spearhead $15.8bn GCC projects market


The GCC construction market has recorded $15.8 billion worth of new project announcements in the second quarter, being spearheaded by Saudi Arabia with half of the contribution, followed by the UAE with a one-third share, according to a report.

The GCC construction market has recorded $15.8 billion worth of new project announcements in the second quarter, being spearheaded by Saudi Arabia with half of the contribution, followed by the UAE with a one-third share, according to a report by BNC intelligence. 
 
The GCC construction market is estimated at $1.8 trillion, with over 21,000 active projects as of Q2, as per the 28th edition of the BNC Projects Journal, titled, 'The Construction Triathlon'.
 
Saudi Arabia continues to lead the construction pace in the April to June period with $8.5 billion worth of project announcements and $7.6 billion worth of project awards, it stated.
 
According to BNC, the utilities sector topped the GCC announcements with close to half of the total share, while the urban construction sector contributed 21%.
 
Saudi Arabia and the UAE contributed 43% and 42% respectively towards Q2 project awards, which stood at $18 billion. The urban construction and the oil & gas sectors each contributed approximately 30% towards the total awards in Q2.
 
“Today KSA is vying for the title (construction leader) and pulling out all the stops to achieve its goal.” stated Avin Gidwani, CEO of Industry Networks.
 
While project announcements of H1 2021 surpassed 80% of the announcements of 2020, the
project awards in H1 2021 covered 45% of the same of 2020.
 
With $29.7 billion project completions in Q2, the first half adds-up to $77.2 billion, which is close to 40% of the total completions in 2020, noted Gidwani.
 
According to him, the UAE witnessed a 44% share in Q2 project completions, whereas the urban construction sector across the region topped the chart with close to 60% share.-TradeArabia News Service