São Paulo – The construction sector of the Sultanate of Oman, in the Arabian Peninsula, has launched 2,410 projects worth USD 190 billion, according to a survey conducted in April and released as a report this Tuesday (8) by BNC Network, a research company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which follows the sector’s activities in the Middle East and North Africa.
From the total of projects, 1,840 ventures, worth USD 61 billion, are urban construction projects; other 70 projects, worth USD 39 billion, are from the oil and gas sector; and over 150 projects, worth USD 32 billion are in the transportation sector.
There are also 230 utility projects, such as water, power and sanitation, worth USD 29 billion and 110 industrial projects, worth USD 27 billion.
According to BNC, 1,730 projects are in tender or under construction, 350 are in planning and the others are in concept or being designed.
“With a significant increase in contract award during Q4, 2017 as compared to the preceding year there is a significant amount of construction work on-going and the project pipeline indicates a stable construction market in the coming two years,” said Avin Gidwani, BNC Network’s CEO, according to a statement by the company. “If the current oil price holds, we expect several projects that are currently on hold to resume, providing a positive impetus to the overall economy of Oman,” he added.
This Monday (07), the oil barrel in New York surpassed USD 70 for the first time since 2014. Oil price began to drop early in the day, but the fall stopped in the afternoon when the president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that the country was exiting Iran’s nuclear agreement. The price even declined 4% at the end of the morning, but the decline had slowed down to 1.5% at around 3:30 pm in New York (4:30 in Brasília).
The increase in oil price is a good sign for the oil exporting countries of the GCC, since it helps the current account deficit to turn into current account surplus,” stated Gidwani, according to BNC’s statement. The company expects part of the additional resources to be invested in large infrastructure projects, especially in the energy sector. The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
