Abu Dhabi – Brazilian construction companies participating in the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade delegation to the Middle East aim to participate in projects in the region and over the last two days of the trip they were introduced to some opportunities in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Representatives of Andrade Gutierrez, Queiroz Galvão, OAS, Fidens and of companies in the technology sector had on Thursday (15) a meeting with directors of the Abu Dhabi Airport Company (Adac), which manages airport terminals in the emirate.
Abu Dhabi airport is living a process of great expansion that includes the construction of a new terminal, to increase capacity from the current 9 million passengers a year to 27 million in 2017.
The CEO at Adac, Jim Benett, said that the tender for construction of the terminal has already taken place, although the winner has not yet been announced, but there should be new tenders for other structures, like highway access, support installations and parking lots, among others. The project also includes the creation of an industrial zone for products connected to aviation, under the free zone regime, as well as commercial buildings.
On Wednesday, company executives visited Etihad Rail, the company created to build a railway to cross the Emirates. The line will be 400 kilometres long.
The Business Development director at Etihad Rail, Graeme Overall, said that he sees possible participation of Brazilian companies in the project in good light. There is interest, according to him, by construction companies from China, Turkey, Korea, Italy and India.
In Brazil
Attracting investment to Brazil is another objective of the mission. Benett, for example, said that Adac is interested in the country and even discussed the airport auction promoted last week with Brazilian companies. “We have interests outside Abu Dhabi and we are eyeing opportunities in Brazil,” said the executive. “Our objective is to administer airports around the world. And not only in airports, but also related services,” he added.
He pointed out that the company is still interested in Brazil, in case the country promotes new concessions. “We are much open to new investment,” said Benett.
*Translated by Mark Ament
