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* Value of Gulf projects top $1 trillion: Report

As of April 12, 2006 ($million)
UAE 294,205
Kuwait 211,398
Saudi Arabia 201,181
Qatar 114,482
Iran 96,568
Oman 33,035
Iraq 27,538
Bahrain 27,430
Total GCC 881,731
Total GCC plus Iran & Iraq 1,005,837

Projects planned, or already under development, in the Gulf have crossed the $1 trillion mark, according to new market figures from MEED projects. Research from the Middle East's leading business opportunity tracker shows that the total value of projects has risen by more than $250bn in the first three months of 2006 alone, and exceeded $1 trillion in the first week of April.

The projects market in the region is now the biggest globally on a per capita basis, while the Middle East has the second largest share of project finance in the world. Ayman Razek, general manager of MEED projects, said: "From the statistics we have at our fingertips, the Gulf economic boom will last for at least five more years. The growth seen in Dubai in the last five years is now happening in Abu Dhabi, and across the GCC. "Project values are at an all-time high through a combination of a GCC-wide construction boom, through infrastructure development, energy initiatives and public / private sector initiatives, as well as associated rises in building material costs."

The UAE remains the Gulf’s largest construction market. At the start of April, there were almost $300bn worth of active projects in the federation, most in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The total value of projects in the GCC is now $881bn; the balance is in Iran, where there are active projects of $97bn, and Iraq, with $27bn worth of projects under way. More than half of the projects in the Gulf are in general construction sectors. There are $228bn worth of oil and gas projects, $106bn of petrochemical projects, $70bn of power and water projects, $44bn of industrial projects and $15bn of wastewater and sewerage schemes.

Taken from The Peninsula Qatar