São Paulo – The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries saw the announcement of USD 125 billion worth of new projects during the first half, BNC Construction Intelligence says in its report made public on Tuesday (23).
GCC consists of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Oman. Saudi Arabia comprises half of the total project announcement in the first half.
In the second quarter, project announcements in the Arab Countries amounted to USD 63.5 billion.
These project announcements are part of the estimated 27,000 active projects live in the GCC, as per BNC data. These include projects at different stages, from planning to execution, and were estimated at USD 2.52 trillion by the research company.
During the first half of 2019, project owners in the GCC countries have also awarded new construction contracts worth US$49 billion, a 33% jump year-over-year, BNC says.
A total of USD 88.5 billion worth of construction projects were completed in the first half – USD 46.5 billion being in the second quarter . The urban construction sector accounted for a 46% share of the total value of the completed construction projects and most of them were registered in the United Arab Emirates (pictured).
Construction contracts for USD 29.3 billion worth of energy (oil and gas) projects were signed in the first half, recording a growth of almost 250% from the first half of 2018.
Saudi Arabia led these project awards with USD 15.8 billion, while the UAE led utility project awards with USD 4 billion.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
