$170bn projects cancelled: Citi

Total value of cancelled projects in the UAE reached $170 billion, up 13 per cent since July, while the project pipeline rose seven per cent to $175 billion, according to a Citi report.

“The UAE accounts for 56 per cent of total cancelled and delayed projects for the main markets. Unsurprisingly, cancellations in the UAE relate predominantly to real estate,” Citi’s Mena construction project tracker reveals.

Saudi Arabia, the largest construction market in Mena with $630 billion of projects planned and underway, recorded a project pipeline drop of nine per cent to $200bn.

However, Kuwait saw an increase of 38 per cent to $88bn on the basis of a redefinition of previously cancelled and delayed projects, while Qatar registered an increase of $7bn in its pipeline to $57bn.

The total project pipeline for the Mena market rose three per cent to $648 billion due to an uptick in oil and gas, gas processing and construction (non-real estate) projects.

Projects cancelled and on hold across the main Mena markets stood at $1.69 trillion compared to $1.7trn in July.

Total value of cancelled projects increased by five per cent to $568bn, while delayed projects dropped 2.8 per cent to $1,128bn.

The main sectors contributing to the increase in cancelled projects were construction (9.6 per cent to $251bn), power (5.7 per cent to $58bn) and infrastructure (3.6 per cent to $33bn).

The main declines in delayed projects came from refining (-59 per cent to $23bn), fertilisers (-52 per cent to $500m) and petrochemicals (-14 per cent to $21bn).

The report points out that $5.5bn worth of projects were awarded across Mena, translating to a year-on-year increase of 13.5 per cent.

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