Author : editoral
Dubai: Dewan Architects & Engineers, one of the region's leading architectural and engineering consulting firms, has entered into a strategic joint venture agreement with the leading European infrastructure and environmental engineering consultancy firm, COBA. The agreement, which was signed in Lisbon, Portugal, represents a powerful combination of engineering and design resources aligned to support both parties' implementationof their strategic expansion plans, particularly on infrastructure design in markets including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
Says Mohamed Al Assam, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Dewan Architects & Engineers: "This endeavor, and our move into the infrastructure market, marks the start of innovative, cost effective, quality design with European experience. This joint venturewill enable us to offer a comprehensive multidisciplinary service to our clients, drawing on the expertise of various specialists to ensure the success of every project we run. It will also advance Dewan's diversification plans in terms of markets, geography and services, helping us enter the field of Infrastructure Design Consultancy across the GCC countries and Iraq. We are proud to be partnering with COBA as the company has a long and solid history of quality, professionalism and success."
For COBA, several considerations factored in choosing a joint-venture partner for expansion into the GCC region. Says Ricardo Oliveira Chairman of COBA: "The demand for cost-efficient, effective and timely delivery of infrastructure projects is high, and the GCC region presents a number of unique challenges in terms of geography, climate and culture. For a project team to achieve great results, they need a technical understanding and an ability to integrate the planning and design with local culture and needs. This is exactly what we have found in Dewan and what we normally seek when expanding our engineering activities in other countries. The firm offers a wealth of experience coupled with a corporate culture of commitment and dedication which matches our own corporate vision."
According to Al Assam, the joint venture was formed at a fortuitous time - in spite of the global financial turmoil, there is increasing optimism in the region when it comes to infrastructure projects. In fact, GCC governments are planning to invest from $535 billion to $2 trillion on infrastructure projects by 2020. Last year the UAE reported 6.8% GDP growth, and a similar growth rate is expected this year with growing investment in infrastructure from AED 86.7 billion to AED 95.9 billion.
The infrastructure sector in other GCC countries is also expected to see exponential growth with the region's governments planning to inject huge investments in infrastructure projects. Qatar, for example, is going ahead with huge investments in infrastructure development projects. For the period 2009-2010, nearly QAR37.9 billion has been allocated for strategic infrastructure projects in major sectors like health, education and human resource development.
Kuwait is also progressing with its infrastructural development plans. Its Bubiyan Harbor development is set to expand the harbor's handling capacity to 2.5 million containers a year, and will see the number of docks at the harbor increase to 60 by 2033.
As for the KSA, expenditure has been expanded following the approval of the 2010 national budget, with SR540 billion budgeted for infrastructure, which includes the development of new projects and expanding current projects, for this fiscal year. In addition, SR137 billion has been allocated for education and training, SR61 billion for healthcare and social development and SR46 billion water, agriculture and industry.
Says Al Assam: "These figures prove that there is massive scope for infrastructural development in the region, and we are very excited to be a part of this journey."
Dewan Architects & Engineers is a regional architectural and engineering design firm with offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar, and Manila. The firm, which employs more than 300 professionals, has a proven record of accomplishment spanning more than 25 years of industry successes across GCC countries, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The firm has just been given top honors after being ranked among the world's most prominent architectural firms by the prestigious Building Design Magazine. The company was ranked as the 60th largest firm globally (5th in Region) by the magazine's January 2010 issue, which annually publishes the World Architecture Top 100, a unique, definitive listing of the world's largest architecture practices.
COBA, established in 1962, is a leading multidisciplinary Portuguese engineering and environment consultancy firm with activity in Portugal and 31 other countries in all continents. The company, together with its subsidiaries in the UAE, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and Algeria, employs more than 400 people and is the largest of its kind in Portugal.
Source : Zawya
Source : Zawya
