Yearly Archives: 2013


Kingdom to invest $133b in power, water projects

Energy consumption in Saudi Arabia is witnessing an unprecedented growth, prompting a wave of investments expected to reach $133 billion (SR502.5 billion) for various power generation and water projects in the next decade, organizers of an industry event in the capital said. Being the third largest water consuming country in the world with an average […]


Oman to shift to Friday-Saturday weekend

Oman will shift to a Friday-Saturday weekend to align itself more closely with banking and trade elsewhere in the world, its ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said announced on Saturday. At present Oman, like neighbouring Saudi Arabia, follows a Thursday-Friday weekend. But other wealthy oil-exporting countries in the Gulf take off on Friday and Saturday, and […]


Work starts from the ground up in Qatar

Large-scale tunnelling schemes will provide base for Qatar infrastructure ahead of the Fifa World Cup Doha is about to become the tunnelling capital of the Middle East as it moves forward on a series of multibillion-dollar infrastructure schemes ahead of the Fifa 2022 World Cup. The projects that involve large-scale tunnelling works are the Doha […]


Saudi ports’ container traffic grows 9%

JEDDAH – The nine ports in Saudi Arabia remain robust, recording a 9 percent growth in container traffic 2004 and 2011, increasing to 6 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEU) from 3 million TEU. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) said recently in the executive summary of its infrastructure series covering power, airports, seaports, roads & railways, […]


Uninsulated buildings won’t be given power

The Ministry of Water and Electricity has decided to strictly enforce thermal insulation for all new buildings in the Western region beginning from the third quarter of 2013 as defaulters would not receive power. “Electricity connections will not be given to new buildings licensed after this date except after making sure they applied thermal insulation,” […]


Saudi Arabia: Tracking rail progress

Vast stretches of desert once tracked by camel trains will soon be spanned by one of the world’s most modern and sophisticated transport systems, with Saudi Arabia now developing a countrywide rail network that underpins the government’s programme to diversify the economy. Data compiled by the Dubai-based news agency Zawya in late 2012 showed there […]


Saudi Jazan Economic City gets a royal boost

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has urged Saudi Aramco to complete the first phase of infrastructure projects for Jazan Economic City in order to woo investment and boost the region’s development. Jazan Gov. Prince Muhammad bin Nasser thanked King Abdullah for his efforts to develop the region and strengthen its economic position […]


Kuwait seeking advisers for two housing projects

Housing authority planning to develop 45,000 units Kuwait’s Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) is looking to appoint advisers on the development of two public-private partnership projects to develop thousands of new houses at an expected cost of several billion dollars. The first project is for the development of a low-cost housing scheme, and the second is […]


SAR35m revamp for Mubarak Hospital

After the completion of a SR 35 million refurbishment project, the Mubarak Hospital, described as one of the most modern health care facilities in the capital city, has officially reopened its doors for patients, following the permission given by the Ministry of Health (MOH). This new state-of-the-art private hospital located in the city center of […]