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Infrastructure Summit
28 - 30 March 2010
at
the Arabian Construction Week
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The full Infrastructure Summit programme will be
available shortly. If your company is interested in
visiting as a delegate, speaking or sponsoring please
contact the show team at
summits@arabianconstructionweek.com.
Infrastructure is a crucial market for the region’s
construction industry as GCC countries plan to invest
billions of dollars in various infrastructure projects
in the long-term, with Abu Dhabi spearheading many major
developments. This two-day conference will focus on
opportunities and challenges in developing four key
areas of infrastructure; roads and railways, ports,
power generation and water, and schools...
Roads and Railways
GCC countries plan to invest more than US $123.45
billion in roads and railway projects over the next 10
years, according to the Kuwait Financial Centre.
Driving the demand for new roads is an explosion in
traffic levels as populations increase. But landmass
restrictions have led authorities to respond with
ambitious plans for substantial railway networks.
Perhaps the most substantial of these is the $15 billion
pan-GCC rail project, designed to facilitate travel
between GCC countries.
In the UAE, Abu Dhabi has set out staggering expansion
plans in line with Plan Abu Dhabi 2030, which outlines
spends of more than $81 billion on roads, bridges and
rail projects over the next two decades. However, many
of these ambitious plans were announced during the
region’s construction boom. Taking into account the
impact of the global economic downturn, the seminar will
determine which projects are steaming ahead and consider
the future of the developments that are still on the
drawing board.
Ports
Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone (KPIZ) located in
Taweelah is Abu Dhabi Ports Company’s (ADPC) landmark
project, comprising a multi-purpose offshore port and
one of the largest integrated industrial zones in the
world.
When phase one is completed in 2012, Khalifa Port will
have an annual container capacity of two million
twenty-foot equivalent Units (TEUs) and a cargo capacity
of nine million tonnes. The industrial zone will be
operational from 2013 and will feature more than 100
kilometres² of basic, midstream and downstream
manufacturers in industry clusters such as aluminium,
petrochemicals, glass and paper.
The seminar will provide a full construction update on
Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone, as well as an insight
into the new design and building methods which will pave
the way for future ports projects in the UAE and beyond.
Power generation and water
Abu Dhabi has one of the highest per capita water
consumption rates in the world creating pressure on the
sector to raise supply and infrastructure to meet demand
in the most efficient and sustainable way, as outlined
in Plan Abu Dhabi 2030.
Since its inception in 1998, Abu Dhabi Water and
Electricity Authority (ADWEA) has built one independent
water and power project every year and has announced
spends of more than $16 billion over the next five
years.
This seminar will look at the challenges and
opportunities in developing efficient power and water
projects in Abu Dhabi and the wider Middle East, as well
as exploring alternative financing solutions to drive
these developments.
Schools
While many projects have been put on the back burner in
the GCC, the education sector is storming ahead with
many countries planning major developments and system
overhauls, making the sector a lucrative one for the
design and construction industry.
Saudi Arabia has allocated $5.3 billion to upgrade and
build more than 3500 schools across the Kingdom;
similarly the Bahrain Economic Development Board has
stressed the importance of developing the country’s
educational institutes. Recently, Abu Dhabi has hogged
the headlines with the launch of the Schools Facilities
Programme by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC).
This seminar will centre on the schools pipeline in the
GCC, with a particular focus on the modern design and
construction models set out by ADEC and the problem of
insufficient landmass witnessed throughout the region.
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