Al Habtoor will be compensated for cancelled contracts

Al Habtoor Leighton is in the process of being compensated for Trump Tower and Dubai International Airport's (DIA) Concourse 3, according to the chief executive officer of Al Habtoor Group. "We have come to a mutual agreement, which took place last week. But the final figure has not been disclosed and will be revealed in the next couple of weeks," Mohammed Al Habtoor told Emirates Business . "As for Trump Tower, we will be compensated for all our expenses on the project. But since we had started work on the project, the compensation details will take some time and will be finalised by May-end." He said some other projects have been affected in the range of Dh100 million but he is optimistic about this year. "Our confirmed order book stands at Dh25 billion today. We are in the process of many other tenders and by the end of 2009, we expect to close at Dh30bn," he said. "The additional Dh5bn are from new projects that are being built by serious clients who are in the middle of negotiations. These are tenders that we have participated in the last six months." He said work is still ongoing on big projects such as Dubai Pearl in Dubai and Hyatt Hotel and Landmark in Abu Dhabi. "In Qatar, we are working on the QR2 billion (Dh2.01bn) Al Shaqab Equestrian Academy, which is the largest in the country. We are also in the midst of building four hotels for a big investor. In the UAE, we are in the process of getting new infrastructure contracts in Abu Dhabi with our partners Leighton and are already doing bridges and tunnels between the main islands and others islands," said Al Habtoor. "Our strength is our reputation and experience." The division has not been affected by the price fluctuations of steel and cement, he said. "We base our contracts on current market prices at the time of building so that the client does not incur any losses. We will try to achieve the prices that clients want but our focus has been always on delivery and quality." He was speaking on the sidelines of the unveiling of the Al Habtoor Business Tower, the first complete commercial five-star business tower in Dubai Marina. The 40-storey project, which is managed by Al Habtoor Properties, has views of Palm Jumeirah and was designed by Conser, an architectural firm from Lebanon. "The project took 24 months to complete. The landscaping is in the final stages. The initial project cost was Dh160m but then the value went up to Dh225m due to the fluctuations in steel prices," said Rajab Younis, Project Director, Al Habtoor Engineering. "It was a tight plot and we faced different issues such as mobilisation in the beginning but we managed to get around that. We have one major problem, which has yet to be resolved and is the only major issue to delay us – the supply of chilled water from Empower. Else, we were ahead of the project by four months." Due to the utilities in the area, the only solution was to cut the whole street passing by Le Meridien. "It is now being directed by the corridor of the services. We have been promised that they will finish this by May-end. To solve this issue, we have located temporary chillers in the podium area till we get the permanent connection for chilled water," said Younis. "Meanwhile, Emaar, Dewa, Dubai Municipality, Civil Defence and Civil Aviation (for the heli-pad) have provided us with excellent co-operation and very good service." In reality, three years ago, by regulation high-rise buildings needed to have helipads but that has changed since then. "But Al Habtoor was particular that the helipad was built – both for safety issues and personal use." The landscaping will be finalised in the next 15 days. Meanwhile, the Al Habtoor Engineering has many projects in the pipeline in the UAE and the region, he added. "The Dh2.2bn office buildings project for Jafza is 50 per cent complete in terms of the structure. We are in the process of retendering some projects in Business Bay and a resort in Palm Jumeirah. We also are looking at a joint-venture in Saudi with the Al Rajhi Group in Riyadh and also some work in Libya and Morocco." Al Jaber wins concourse 3 Dubai Aviation City Corporation has announced the award of the main package of Dubai International Airport's (DIA) Concourse 3 to Al Jaber Engineering & Contracting. The contract includes the construction, completion and maintenance of the civil, architectural, MEP, SAS and signage works for the third concourse. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .