Isaura Daniel, special envoy*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
Kuwait City – The Avenues, Kuwait City’s largest shopping centre, is interested in housing Brazilian stores and buying construction material from the country. The information was supplied to ANBA last Tuesday (20th) during a visit by a trade delegation from Brazil to Kuwait. Comprised of 19 civil construction sector companies and organisations, the delegation arrived in the Middle Eastern country on Monday (19th) in the evening, and visited the shopping centre construction site yesterday. The first phase of the enterprise, which counts on 212 stores, is already in operation, and the second phase should be concluded in March next year. "We would like to have Brazilian stores,” said the manager at The Avenues, Abdulaziz Alhomaibi.
According to him, the enterprise specializes in high-end fashion, and this is one of the sectors in which Brazilians could establish commercial enterprises at The Avenues. According to Alhomaibi, Brazilian companies can also supply construction material for the areas that are still under construction. Ahmad Alzaabi, an executive in the project and management sector at Mabanee, the company that owns The Avenues, says that there is demand for stones, granites, marbles and tiles, among others. Those products are currently purchased from Europe, but due to the appreciated euro they are expensive in Kuwait. Timely delivery, pricing and quality are the requirements for supplying the project, according to Alzaabi.
The initial project for The Avenues is divided into six construction phases. In total, US$ 1 billion should be invested in the enterprise, which should be entirely concluded in 2011. According to Alhomaibi, Brazilian companies in the construction sector can supply their products to works already underway. The delegation from Brazil visited construction sites and showed interest in selling to the project. The companies had an opportunity to talk to the executives in charge of the enterprise. The contractor for the construction, according to Alzaabi, is the Kuwait-based Alghanim International, but construction inputs are selected by Malbanee.
Alhomaibi stated that company representatives should visit Brazil soon. Presently, according to the manager, the construction material used by the company is purchased from different regions of the world, such as Europe and Asia. The owner of The Avenues is a privately-held company that operates in the real estate sector, and has been listed in the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) since 1999. The mall is the company’s flagship project. It is unique in the Arab country, Alhomaibi explains, due to its size and architecture. As it is basically a ground-level mall, a considerable portion of the premises can be viewed from any given location. According to the manager, the mall receives 250,000 people every week. Each person spends roughly US$ 100 per week.
The Avenue hosts global brands such as the Spanish Zara, for clothing, the French Bois & Chiffons, for decoration, and H&M, also from Europe. It is the only horizontal mall in Kuwait City, says Alhomaibi. Instead of having several storeys, it is long, with 600 metres of length and 250 metres of width. Upon conclusion of the second phase, the premises should total 1.2 kilometres of length. The Avenue is turned to high-income consumers. It features, for instance, a digital movie theatre – the first in the Middle East, according to Alhomaibi, including a VIP room with capacity for 20 people.
The visit by the Brazilian delegation to the enterprise and its construction sites is part of the business mission organised by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce to the Gulf. Yesterday evening, the group left to Qatar, where it should get to know the local civil construction market, and from Thursday evening onwards, the group should be in the United Arab Emirates, where it will participate in the Big 5 Show, a trade fair for the construction sector, to be held from the 25th to the 29th in Dubai.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
