Infrastructure September issue

ISSUE 018 | SEPTEMBER 2015 

IN FOCUS 

Communicating BIM 

Why workflow shouldn’t 

be ignored 

p18 

SPECIAL REPORT 

Smart Cities 

Tracing the Smart 

Dubai journey 

p29 

NO 

FULL STOPS 

Eng Anwaar Al Shimmari, Director of Projects Planning Department at the 

UAE Ministry of Public Works is a strong proponent of sustainable infrastructure 

PLUS TOP 10 UAE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

INTRODUCTION 

The city at your fingertips 

GROUP 

GROUP CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER 

DOMINIC DE SOUSA 

GROUP CEO NADEEM HOOD 

GROUP COO GINA O’HARA 

EDITORIAL 

EDITOR ANOOP K MENON 

anoop.menon@cpimediagroup.com 

+971 4 375 6830 

ADVERTISING & MARKETING 

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR JUDE SLANN 

jude.slann@cpimediagroup.com 

+971 4 375 6842 

DESIGN 

DESIGNER ULYSSES GALGO 

CIRCULATION AND PRODUCTION 

DATABASE AND CIRCULATION MANAGER 

RAJEESH NAIR 

rajeesh.nair@cpimediagroup.com 

+971 4 375 5682 

PRODUCTION MANAGER 

JAMES THARIAN 

james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com 

+971 4 375 5673 

lobally, the smart cities trend has elevated digital infrastructure 

to the same level as physical infrastructure in terms of 

G 

importance while also emphasising seamless integration between 

the two. We must thank cheap computing power, storage and 

bandwidth for the digital revolution. The fact that everything is 

getting connected to everything has led to the development of 

new concepts like the Internet of Everything (IoE), the Internet 

of Things (IoT) and Data Analytics that are now starting to impact our social and 

economic activities. 

I believe we are getting into an era where the digital infrastructure is set to supplant 

the physical as the core infrastructure. For example, the smartphone is now our 

access to the world, and to information, and to education, healthcare and human 

development. 

As our cities develop, an integrated approach is essential to run them. If we take 

today’s modern buildings as an example, each building may host up to 80-100 protocols 

for HVAC, lighting, fire protection, elevators. As they don’t talk to each other, we see 

40-50% inefficiency in energy consumption in modern buildings. If we add this up from 

a city perspective, the amount of energy that is wasted is enormous. The solution to 

this wastage is to connect the unconnected but this not just a technological challenge; 

it is also a social challenge from the standpoints of cultural adaptation and political will 

because you have to make departments and functions work together. 

From a technology standpoint, open standards are fundamental to making things 

work together. The reason our phones work anywhere in the world is mainly due to the 

industry’s adoption of common standards. Of course, there are no global standards in 

city management yet, so that is something we need to develop. Also, cities have to redesign 

their regulations for the digital world. 

Dubai has successfully demonstrated the role of public and private partnerships 

(PPPs) in realising its smart city objectives. More important, it has shown how a 

visionary leadership is fundamental to the success of such initiatives. The emirate is 

already a global role model in terms of what is has achieved in the tourism, trade and 

logistics fronts. Smart Dubai will be another feather in an already crowded cap. 

Published by 

REGISTERED AT IMPZ 

PO BOX 13700, DUBAI, UAE 

TEL: +971 4 440 9100 

FAX: +971 4 447 2409 

WWW.CPIMEDIAGROUP.COM 

Printed by Printwell Printing press LLC 

© Copyright 2015 CPI. All rights reserved 

Anoop K Menon 

Editor 

Infrastructure Middle East 

anoop.menon@cpimediagroup.com 

While the publishers have made every effort to ensure 

the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they 

will not be held responsible for any errors therein. 

September 2015 INFRASTRUCTURE MIDDLE EAST 01

CONTENTS 

018 September 2015 

46 

29 

COVER STORY 

No full stops 

Eng Anwaar Al Shimmari, 

Director of Projects Planning 

Department at the UAE 

Ministry of Public Works 

is a strong proponent of 

sustainable infrastructure 

By Fatima de la Cerna 

SPECIAL REPORT 

Smart Cities 

31 SMART DUBAI MILESTONES 

32 HOW DUBAI IS UNLEASHING 

ITS SMART POTENTIAL 

32 SECURING CITIES FROM 

CYBER ATTACKS 

32 INTERVIEWS 

 

 

 

REGULARS 

06 Regional update 

10 Sector update 

15 Global update 

16 Quote Board 

18 In Focus 

Alan Lamont, Vice President, 

Bentley Systems 

21 Infrastructure tenders 

34 Bottomline Matters 

ABB Power Systems 

44 Spot Light 

64 Executive Insight 

67 Events 

68 Infrastructure Milestones 

This month: Qatar’s 

Mega Reservoirs 

INDUSTRY SECTORS 

TOP 10 FEATURE 

24 UAE infrastructure 

projects 

The UAE’s construction market 

continues to grow at a steady 

pace on the back of government 

and private spending 

CONSTRUCTION 

54 Pushing the 

envelope 

The role of powder coating 

in realising the region’s 

building land marks 

By Ram Ramnath 

SOLUTIONS HUB 

61 Hybrid power 

SES SMART Energy Solutions 

and Building Energy will 

install the first off-grid 

temporary hybrid plant in 

Saudi Arabia 

CONSTRUCTION 

48 Power Failure 

Facilities managers need 

information, lots of it, and 

they often get more than they 

can cope with 

By Alan Millin 

CONSTRUCTION 

50 Infrastructure design trends 

An overview of advanced 

technologies shaping 

infrastructure design 

By Louay Dahmash 

UTILITIES 

56 An irresistible 

attraction 

Anlaysing intermittent 

plant operation in 

wastewater treatment 

By Marcia Sherony 

UTILITIES 

58 Deconstructing 

Cooling 

Excerpts from the session 

on cooling approaches 

at the 8th edition of C3 

OIL AND GAS 

56 A safe pair of hands 

Staying on schedule with 

plant safety design 

By Ossama Tawfick 

INFRA PEOPLE 

65 New COO for 

Altaaqa Global 

Energy industry veteran Julian 

Ford joins Altaaqa Global as its 

Chief Commercial Officer (COO) 

02 INFRASTRUCTURE MIDDLE EAST September 2015

ON TOPIC ROUNDUP 

Online 

LAUNCH PARTNER 

Middle East Consultant’s home on the web 

MOST POPULAR 

EDITOR'S CHOICE 

READERS' COMMENTS 

1Abu Dhabi approves 26 major 

projects in second quarter 

Total floor area of developments 

given green light triples to 2.3 

million square metres, Abu Dhabi 

Urban Planning Council says 

2Jobs advice: What Gulf 

construction firms 

look for when hiring 

Top trends driving 

recruitment in the sector 

3Dubai set to break new 

records with world’s 

tallest residential tower 

Planned 711m-tall tower to be part 

of Meydan One development, 

which will also include world’s 

longest indoor ski slope 

4FIFA turmoil unlikely to 

impact Qatar project 

pipeline – experts 

Gulf state’s ambitious 

construction plans will flourish 

with or without 2022 World 

Cup, industry executives say 

5Dubai Parks and Resorts’ 

expenditure tops $1bn 

Second-quarter costs came 

to $218m as theme-park 

developer looks to meet 

October 2016 project deadline 

PHOTO GALLERIES 

Dredging the New Suez Canal in Egypt 

The new waterway marks a significant achievement 

by men and machines. 

See photo galleries at: meconstructionnews.com/photos 

VIDEO 

Meydan One, Dubai’s latest megaproject 

Development is set to include the world’s tallest 

residential tower, longest indoor ski slope and 

largest dancing fountain. 

See videos at: meconstructionnews.com/videos 

“There were some impressive 

numbers being thrown 

around after [Indian Prime 

Minister] Narendra Modi’s 

visit to the UAE – not least, 

the billions being put into 

a fund for much-needed 

infrastructure. But to achieve 

such ambitious plans India 

will have to make doing 

business much easier for 

foreign firms. Buying land 

there is a nightmare and 

there’s a whole host of 

bureaucratic complications 

and legal oddities that firms 

need to grapple with.” 

Name withheld; response to story 

‘Modi visit: UAE, India aim to raise 

$75bn infrastructure fund’ 

READER POLL 

What is your view of the UAE 

property market? 

40% 

Another 

‘bubble’ is 

about to burst 

21% 

The 

‘stabilisation’ is 

a positive sign 

26% 

The boom is 

over, prices will 

fall further 

11% 

Prices will 

start rising 

again soon 

Log on for the latest from across the Middle East construction sector. Write to the editor at contact@meconstructionnews.com

New! Sverker 900 

Multifunctional Substation 

Test System 

The SVERKER 900 is the engineer’s ultimate toolbox that addresses the 

increasing need for three-phase testing capability in electrical distribution 

substations, renewable power generation stations and industrial applications. 

Three currents and four voltages 

Stand-alone functionality 

Rugged and reliable for field use 

Generation of 900V and 105A in single phase mode 

Secondary and primary testing 

Megger Limited 

E: mesales@megger.com 

www.megger.com

REGIONAL UPDATE 

UAE 

Abu Dhabi Quality and 

Conformity Council (QCC) 

achieved a major milestone 

with the hosting of the 

steering committee meeting 

of the Infrastructure 

Standards Guidelines (ISGL) 

development project. 

The project aims for the 

integration and harmonisation 

of all related standards and 

specifications in infrastructure 

development projects across 

the emirate of Abu Dhabi. 

ISGL seeks to provide a 

better understanding of quality 

infrastructure services in 

support services, gas, waste 

management, communications, 

water, central cooling, electricity, 

transport, and infrastructure 

productivity and efficiency. 

Top tier The UAE has been ranked third globally for the quality of its infrastructure 

The Al Maktoum International 

Airport expansion will 

be completed by the first 

quarter of 2022, said HE Eng 

Khalifa Al Zaffin, Executive 

Chairman, Dubai Aviation 

City Corporation (DACC). 

In an interview carried in 

Dubai Civil Aviation Authority 

(DCAA) newsletter, Al Zaffin 

said: “Our current aim for Al 

Maktoum International Airport 

is twofold: to attract more airlines 

to operate from the airport and 

ease passenger traffic at DXB until 

such time that Phase 1 of the new 

airport is ready. In that context, 

AMIA is currently undergoing 

an expansionary phase that 

will see its annual passenger 

handling capacity rise from the 

current 5m to 7m by early 2016.” 

The UAE has retained its 

third position in the global 

infrastructure ranking 

released by the World 

Economic Forum (WEF). 

WEF measured the quality 

of road and rail networks and 

the quality of the electricity 

supply in 144 countries to come 

up with the table, which forms 

a part of WEF’s annual Global 

Competitiveness Index (GCI). 

On the overall global 

competitiveness index, the 

UAE topped the MENA region 

moving up to the 12th position. 

Mattar Al Tayer, director 

general and chairman of 

the Roads and Transport 

Authority (RTA) recently 

stated that the organisation 

has spent about $21.78bn on 

infrastructure projects since 

November 2005, when the 

organisation was set up, with 

assets worth over $23bn. 

Oman 

The contribution of 

hydrocarbon sector to 

Oman’s GDP has been 

showing a declining trend, 

said the Central Bank of 

Oman in its annual report. 

The hydrocarbon sector 

accounted for 47.2% of 

the nominal GDP in 2014 

compared with 50.6% in 

2013 and 52.3% in 2012. 

“The decline in the crude 

oil prices in the global market 

that was not accompanied by 

a significant increase in crude 

oil and gas production in Oman 

during 2014, could explain the 

reduction in the contribution 

of this sector to the aggregate 

GDP,” said the report. 

Oil and gas revenues 

as a percentage of GDP 

stood at 37.8% in 2014. 

In decline Hydrocarbon sector accounted for 47.2% of GDP in 2014 

Oman Broadband Company 

(OBC) plans to connect 

90% of the Governorate of 

Muscat and 35% of the other 

governorates outside Muscat 

with broadband service by 

2020, reported Times of Oman. 

Under the national 

broadband strategy, unveiled 

by the Ministry of Transport 

and Communications, the 

government has allocated $130m 

to be invested over the next 

10 years. OBC is planning to 

implement broadband projects 

using financing alternatives 

and other companies instead of 

depending on direct financing 

from the government. 

OBC has already covered 

30% of the Governorate of 

Muscat; Musandam, parts of 

Dhofar and North Batinah 

will be covered this year. 

Oman Power and Water 

Procurement (OPWP) 

Company plans to initiate 

tendering processes for 

five new independent water 

projects (IWPs) this year, 

reported the Oman Observer. 

OPWP is looking to set 

up two IWPs with capacities 

in the range of of 55,000 

- 60,000 m3/day in Duqm 

and harqiyah regions. 

In Dhofar Governorate, 

a new IWP with 80,000 

to 100,000 m3/day is 

being planned either 

at Raysut or Taqah. 

A request for proposals 

(RFP) is expected to be issued 

in the first quarter of 2016, 

with the commercial launch set 

for the first quarter of 2019. 

RFPs have already been 

issued for a new IWP at Barka 

with a capacity of 62m gallons 

per day, and commercial 

operation set for May 2018. 



Kuwait 

Kuwait’s Supreme Petroleum 

Council has endorsed a 

request to sharply increase 

the budget for the Al-Zour 

refinery by further $2.9bn. 

The decision came came 

after bids for most tenders for 

the five packages constituting 

the refinery project came in 

higher than the estimated cost. 

Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair 

said an estimated $60bn will 

be spent on oil projects over the 

next five years to modernise 

the oil sector and to raise 

production capacity to 4m bpd. 

Last year, Kuwait awarded 

tenders for a $12bn project to 

upgrade two of the three existing 

refineries. The plan is to increase 

the refining capacity to 1.4m bpd 

from 930,000bpd currently. 

State priority Kuwait’s infrastructure sector is set to grow by nearly 15-20% 

According to a report by 

Alpen Capital, Kuwait’s 

infrastructure sector is set 

to grow by nearly 15-20% 

in terms of the number of 

projects expected to be 

completed by end-2015. 

Infrastructure projects in the 

country are becoming a state 

priority, driven by government 

attempts to enhance integration 

with the GCC members and 

economic diversification. But the 

report also points out that being 

state controlled, the country’s 

transport infrastructure projects 

are characterised by a lengthy 

decision-making process. 

These factors are leading to 

a delay in the development of 

the new rail system, port, and 

other transport infrastructure. 

Despite the fall in oil 

prices, Kuwait’s financial 

reserves hit a record 

$592bn at the end of the 

2014-15 financial year. 

The reserves are held in 

two state funds, the State 

Reserve Fund and the Reserve 

Fund for Future Generations, 

both run by the Kuwait 

Investment Authority. 

Despite the sharp drop in 

oil prices since June last year, 

Kuwait posted a surplus of 

$13bn during fiscal 2014-15. 

In fact, the country has always 

posted a budget surplus in 

each of the past 16 fiscal years 

thanks to high oil prices. 

Oil income in the new 

budget is calculated on 

the basis of $45 a barrel, 

down from last year’s $75 a 

barrel, while the country’s 

average production is 

projected at 2.7m bpd. 

Saudi Arabia 

Saudi Arabia has issued 

sovereign bonds worth 

$4bn to local banks this 

year, a first since 2007. 

The proceeds will be used 

to finance the widening budget 

deficit, which was being funded 

by dipping into foreign currency 

reserves. According to Saudi 

Arabian Monetary Agency 

(SAMA) data, net foreign assets 

fell to $672.2bn in May, down by 

$6.6bn from the previous month, 

as the government drew down 

reserves to bridge the deficit. 

The expenditures for 2015 has 

been estimated to reach $229bn 

vis-a-vis a revenues estimate 

of $191bn. The break-even has 

been estimated at $105 a barrel. 

Overall, the kingdom withdrew 

$65.1bn from its reserves during 

the first five months of 2015. 

Deficit finance Saudi Arabia tapped the bond markets for the first time since 2007 

Saudi Arabia ranked third 

among WestAsian countries 

(behind Turkey and the 

UAE) in terms of Foreign 

direct investments (FDIs) 

received, said a report by the 

UN Conference on Trade and 

Development (UNCTAD). 

However, FDIs in Saudi Arabia 

dropped by 6.9% to $8.012bn 

in 2014 compared to $9.298bn 

in 2013. Overall FDI inflows 

to the West Asia continued 

to fall for the six consecutive 

years at 4% to reach $43bn in 

2014 due to political crises. 

Regarding infrastructure 

projects, the report said of the 

$157bn contracts awarded by 

the GCC countries in 2014, 

companies in Saudi Arabia 

captured the highest portion of 

those deals at $66bn with the 

railway sector leading the way. 

State-owned Taqnia is 

finalising a deal to provide solar 

energy to the Saudi Electricity 

Company for 5 USD cents/ 

kWh, reported The Atlantic. 

The report, quoting Prince 

Turki bin Saud bin Mohammad 

Al Saud, Chairman, Taqnia said 

the tariff is less than the price 

ACWA Power recently agreed 

to in Dubai, and will also be 

the cheapest in the world. 

Taqnia has made several 

investments in renewable 

energy including the region’s 

first solar desalination plant. 

The report noted that Saudi 

Aramco and the Saudi Electricity 

Company (SEC) plan to jointly 

break ground on about 10 solar 

projects around the country 

in 2016, while adding that the 

government has drawn up plans 

for setting up a commercial 

scale solar-panel factory in 

Riyadh and a polysilicon factory 

on the Arabian Gulf coast. 



Qatar 

Qatar has ranked first in the 

World Economic Forum’s 

annual Global Competitiveness 

Report for efficient 

government, reported the QNA. 

The report assesses the 

efficiency of 144 governments on 

measures, including wastefulness 

of government spending, 

burden of regulation and 

transparency of policymaking, 

to produce an overall global 

ranking. Qatar emerged as 

the country with the most 

efficient government, followed 

by Singapore and Finland. 

The WEF report notes that 

the efficiency of government 

has a significant bearing on 

a country’s competitiveness 

and economic growth. 

Qatar is planning to build a 

massive logistics hub in the 

south of the country, between 

Hamad Port, the Mesaieed 

industrial area and the truck 

orbital route to help bolster 

the country’s private sector. 

A report on Dohanews 

website said the new industrial 

and logistics center will be 

developed across a 6.33m 

sqm site covering 1,583 plots 

of land between Al Wakra, 

Birkat Al Awamir and Aba 

Sali. The scheme aims to 

support Qatar’s ambition of 

diversifying the economy 

away from hydrocarbons and 

bolster the private sector. 

Qatar’s spending will 

remain ‘elevated’ in the 

healthcare sector given 

the country’s substantial 

reserves, said BMI Research. 

The country is forecasted 

to spend $5.25bn this year 

on its healthcare sector, 

compared to $4.81bn in 2014 . 

Qatar’s high level of 

urbanisation, rapid population 

growth and rising prevalence of 

chronic lifestyle diseases creates 

an environment in which there 

is strong potential for market 

growth,” said BMI Research. 

The national health insurance 

scheme- SEHA - has covered all 

citizens for basic health needs 

and, according to BMI Research, 

it will be extended to expatriates 

in 2016. BMI has forecasted an 

expenditure of $582m in Qatar’s 

pharmaceutical sector in 2015. 

First rank Qatar tops WEF’s efficient government charts 

www.hi-force.com 


SECTOR UPDATE 

Utilities 

Masdar Institute and 

MIT have joined hands 

to conduct research on 

UAE’s cyber infrastructure 

security challenges. 

The collaboration will see both 

parties undertaking research 

involving Abu Dhabi’s power 

system to identify and assess the 

different sources of cyber gaps in 

a critical infrastructure system. 

“Our research aims to 

contribute to the development 

of cybersecurity as an emerging 

field of scientific inquiry,” said 

Dr Sameh El Khatib, one of the 

two principal investigators on 

the project. The data gathered 

from Abu Dhabi will be correlated 

with data from similar projects 

in New York and Singapore to 

develop a knowledge map. 

Cyber security A new research initiative will analyse Abu Dhabi’s power system 

Siemens has been awarded 

a contract by the Qatar 

General Electricity & Water 

Corporation (KAHRAMAA) 

for the turnkey construction 

of three substations in Qatar. 

The company will supply 

three 132/11kV substations 

as part of Phase 11 of the 

Qatar Power Transmission 

System Expansion project. 

The substations will also 

provide power supply for two new 

sports stadiums, and are planned 

for completion within 15 months. 

Siemens has also been 

awarded an additional contract 

for 654 NX Air 11kV Air- 

Insulated Switchgears, inclusive 

of protection for secondary 

distribution, to be implemented 

over a two-year period. 

APR Energy has signed a 

contract to provide a gas 

turbine power plant for an 

industrial customer in Egypt. 

The project, which 

is for a minimum of 12 

months, has an estimated 

value exceeding $30m. 

APR Energy’s plant will 

feature three GE aeroderivative 

mobile turbines that will run 

on clean-burning natural 

gas. The plant is expected to 

begin generation by Q1 2016. 

“Our contract in Egypt is 

the result of many months of 

work and gives us a foothold 

in one of the largest markets 

in the region,” said Laurence 

Anderson, CEO, APR Energy. 

Executive Chairman John 

Campion said the project 

builds upon APR Energy’s 

experience in the industrial 

space and complementing its 

success in the utility segment. 

Oil & Gas 

Oil Refineries & Petroleum 

Industries Co (ORPIC) 

recently floated a tender for 

its facilities at Mina al Fahal 

refinery near Muscat. 

The engineering, procurement, 

construction and commissioning 

(EPCC) tender also includes 

the Polypropylene Plant and 

Aromatics Plant in Sohar and 

Raysut Terminal in Salalah. 

“Delivery of ORPIC’s MSPP 

project is in line with our strategic 

growth plan to revolutionise the 

way we operate our oil product 

logistics model — focusing on 

a higher standard of efficiency, 

lower costs, eliminating safety 

and security hazards, improving 

environmental impacts 

and serving the Sultanate 

with pride,” said Musab al 

Mahrouqi, CEO, ORPIC. 

Al Nasr Oil field ABB will supply automation solutions for the Nasr Full Field project 

ABB has received orders worth 

$100m from Hyundai Heavy 

Industries for electrical and 

telecommunication systems 

for oilfields off the UAE coast. 

The contract enables Hyundai 

Heavy Industries to fulfill its 

obligations to Abu Dhabi Marine 

Operating Co. under the contract 

for EPC Work of Nasr Full Field 

Development Project (Package 2). 

“ABB’s extensive experience 

in offshore oil and gas field 

electrification ensures high 

reliability and minimises lifecycle 

costs, while trimming 

the oil fields’ environmental 

footprint,” said ABB Process 

Automation division 

President Peter Terwiesch. 

The project will be executed 

by ABB’s engineering services 

and project management 

team in Norway. 

Veolia Water Technologies, 

through its subsidiary VWS 

Oil & Gas, has been awarded a 

$20m contract in Kuwait 

for incineration unit to 

handle oily and biological 

sludge. 

Veolia is supplying the 

sludge treatment technologies 

to two oil refineries as part of 

a major project that covers a 

broad revamping of Kuwait 

National Petroleum Company 

facilities by a joint venture 

Fluor, Daewoo and Hyundai. 

Veolia will be supplying 

its own Pyrofluid thermal 

treatment solution for the 

project, which is to be delivered 

in the next 18 months 

Thierry Froment, head of 

Veolia Water Technologies 

Oil & Gas business, said the 

contract affirms Veolia Water 

Technologies ideal position in 

terms of developing the Oil & 

Gas sector in the Middle East. 


JOIN THE ONLY GATHERING OF BASRA’S OIL, 

GAS & INFRASTRUCTURE INDUSTRIES 

Produced By: 

Under the High Patronage of Basra 

Governorate and Basra Council: 

With the Participation of: 

2-3 November 2015 

Intercontinental Hotel Istanbul , Istanbul, Turkey 

With Distinguished Speakers from: 

The Government of Iraq 

The Ministry of Oil, Government of Iraq 

The Basra Governorate and the Basra Council 

South Gas Company, Government of Iraq 

Form Partnerships, Discover Opportunities & Win 

Contracts in the Biggest Oil Producing Province of Iraq 

SPONSORS 

www.cwcbasraoilgas.com

SECTOR UPDATE 

Transport 

A consortium of Spain’s Isolux 

Corsan, Turkey’s Kolin and 

local Haif Company has been 

appointed the ‘preferred 

bidder’ for the $2.53bn 

construction contract for lines 

B and C of the Mecca Metro. 

Line B section with 11.9 km 

will include the construction 

of three stations. The Line C 

section, with 13km, in addition 

to the execution of six stations, 

includes two big transport 

interchanges stations. 

The scope of the contract 

includes the execution of 

stations and interchange 

stations with civil works, access 

ramps, grand roofs, canopies, 

tunnels, and more than 1,175 

meters of viaducts and large 

pedestrian underpasses. 

Paris Metro RATP Group is bringing its expertise in passenger transport to the UAE 

China State Construction 

Engineering Corporation 

has been awarded a $67m 

contract by Dubai’s Roads 

& Transport Authority 

(RTA) to build access roads 

leading to the Dubai Parks 

and Resorts (DPR) site 

from Sheikh Zayed Road. 

Spanning 14 months, the 

contract entails the construction 

of two-direction ramps to provide 

access to DPR’s site from the 

adjacent road network, and grade 

intersections located on the link 

between E311 & E11.The project 

also includes the construction of 

roadway signage and pavement 

marking; street lighting; 

landscaping; irrigation ducts; 

storm drainage; diversion; and, 

protection of services systems. 

RATP Dev, a subsidiary 

of French state-owned 

public transport operator 

RATP Group, has signed a 

partnership with Zain Capital, 

part of the Lakhraim Business 

Group, to set up a JV targeting 

some of the largest transport 

projects in the UAE. 

The partnership will begin 

with a bid to the Abu Dhabi 

Department of Transport (DOT) 

to operate the bus networks of 

the UAE capital and Al Ain. 

It will then follow it up 

with a bid for the multi-billion 

dirham metro and light railway/ 

tramline project, which will be 

one of the largest construction 

enterprises in the emirate. 

In addition, RATP Dev is 

already in discussions with 

the RTA to enhance the bus 

systems in Dubai. RATP 

Group operates the Paris 

metro, tram and bus system. 

Construction 

Abu Dhabi is developing 

a rating system of ‘black 

points’ for construction 

firms that violate and fail 

to meet environment and 

safety requirements during 

construction and demolitions. 

Speaking to Al Roeya, 

Abdulrahman Al Marzouki, 

Director of Environment, Health 

and Safety Department, Municipal 

Affairs Department explained that 

“the system is under preparation” 

in coordination with partners. 

Similar to the black points 

rule of traffic department, 

the rating system depends on 

nine specific elements of work 

in the construction sector. 

The department will focus 

on linking environmental 

requirements for building 

permits in three municipalities. 

DIFC Gate Building 11 The new building is scheduled for completion by Q2 2017 

Disputes relating to major 

Middle East construction 

projects increased 

significantly in value to 

$76.7m in 2014 according to 

ARCADIS, the global natural 

and built asset design 

and consultancy firm. 

Edward McCluskey, Head of 

Alternative Dispute Resolution 

- Middle East at ARCADIS, said: 

“The Middle East construction 

market is back in full swing 

and contractors and employers 

are seeing more liquidity in 

the market. With this though 

those parties that parked their 

losses now have the funds to 

pursue those claims that were 

parked. We forecast that this 

trend shall continue into 2015 as 

more parties have the required 

liquidity to pursue those 

claims that were put on ice.” 

Dubai International Financial 

Centre (DIFC) has broken 

ground for the construction 

of its 11th office building in 

the iconic Gate District. 

Built at a total investment 

of $205m, Gate Building 11 is 

scheduled for completion by Q2 

2017. Across a total built-up area 

of 200,000 sq ft, the premises will 

offer 160,000 sq ft (82%) of office 

space and nearly 40,000 sq ft 

(18%) for retail and F&B outlets. . 

HE Essa Kazim, Governor, 

Dubai International Financial 

Centre, said: “We have initiated 

a new wave of developments at 

the financial hub in line with 

the DIFC Masterplan that 

was announced (in the early 

part of July this year) as part 

of our 2024 strategy to triple 

our growth. The development 

of the Gate Building 11 will 

put us in prime position to 

leverage new opportunities and 

accelerate our future growth.” 


ADVERTORIAL 

TRANSPORT 

GCC rail, road and maritime 

projects worth US$ 422 billion 

in focus at NATRANS Arabia 

he GCC’s 

integrated 

T 

transport 

strategy will 

be the focus 

of NATRANS 

Arabia 

2015, a first-of-its-kind event 

piecing together the Gulf region’s 

transportation infrastructure with 

rail, road, and maritime projects 

which is worth an estimated 

US$ 422 billion and completed 

within the next five years. The 

conference-led exhibition is 

being held in partnership with 

the UAE Federal Transportation 

Authority – Land and Maritime 

and held under the patronage of 

H.E. Dr. Abdulla Belhaif Al Nuaimi, 

Minister of Public Works and 

Chairman of the Federal Transport 

Authority - Land and Marine. 

NATRANS Arabia, which takes 

place at ADNEC on 25-27 October 

2015, consists of three distinct 

conference streams, incorporating 

the regions established rail 

conference – the 6th Middle East Rail 

Opportunities plus two dedicated 

one-day conferences addressing 

road and maritime issues. 

Distinguished speakers 

include: Dr. Abdelgader Elshabani, 

Department of Transport, Abu 

Dhabi, Senior Transportation 

Planning Specialist, UAE; 

Mohammed al-Mudharreb, Roads 

& Transport Authority, Director 

of Rail Operation, Rail Agency and 

Loay Ghazaleh, Ministry of Works, 

Advisor To H.E Under Secretary of 

the Ministry of Works, Bahrain. 

During the 6th Middle East Rail 

Opportunities Summit, designs of 

nearly US$ 200 billion in network 

The 

exhibition 

is likely 

to attract 

in excess 

of 2,500 

trade 

visitors. 

projects will be presented, 

running across the Gulf coast 

from Kuwait, through Saudi 

Arabia, to the UAE and Oman, 

with branches linking Bahrain 

and Qatar. The Middle East Road 

Conference will examine the 

progress of the region’s mega 

road project which is set to grow 

at a rapid pace over the next 5 

years, valued at an estimated US$ 

32 billion. The third streamed 

seminar, Middle East Maritime 

Conference, will take a look at 

the different investments in the 

maritime industry, which are 

expected to reach US$66 billion 

in the next three years, with the 

UAE contributing 30 - 35% of 

the Middle East’s projected total 

investment, valued at US$190 

billion over the next three years. 

Top level transport delegations 

representing the UAE including 

government bodies such as the 

Department of Transport, The 

Road Transport Authority, Etihad 

Rail, Abu Dhabi Ports, DP World 

and the Ministry of Public Works, 

will be attending the conferences. 

Running alongside the 

conferences is an exhibition 

accommodating over 100 exhibiting 

companies that is divided into 

four themed zones compatible 

with the conference streams, 

plus an extra zone showcasing 

intelligent transport systems. The 

exhibition is likely to attract in 

excess of 2,500 trade visitors. The 

exhibition has already attracted 

support from the European 

Parking Association and MAFEX, 

the Spanish Railway Association 

plus sponsors Etihad Rail, ESI 

Rail Ltd, PTV Group, Mitsubishi 

Electric, Laborex and LGW. 

For more information, 

please, visit www.natransarabia.com/infrastructure. 

June 2015 INFRASTRUCTURE MIDDLE EAST 13

SECTOR UPDATE 

Cities 

Dubai World Central 

(DWC) has named its 145 

sq km master-planned 

city ‘Dubai South’. 

Announcing the new name, 

HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed 

Al Maktoum, Chairman, Dubai 

Aviation City Corporation, said: 

“Dubai South is the emirate’s 

flagship urban project that will 

set benchmarks for the rest of the 

emirate in terms of manifesting 

the themes of happiness as 

set out in Dubai Plan 2021.” 

The city’s ecosystem is 

expected to generate over half a 

million jobs and sustain a total 

population twice that number. 

Dubai South already hosts the 

Al Maktoum International 

Airport, which will become the 

world’s largest once complete. 

DWC rebranded Dubai South will ultimately sustain a population of 1m 

The Knowledge and Human 

Development Authority 

(KHADA) has announced 

that by 2017 there will be 

more than 196 private schools 

in Dubai with a capacity of 

over 341,000 students. 

By end-2016, there will be 27 

new schools offering 63,000 seats. 

Dubai’s successful bid to host Expo 

2020, coupled with the growing 

population of the city has brought 

investor confidence.Currently, the 

KHDA is reviewing more than 60 

applications for the establishment 

of new private schools in Dubai. 

Executive Director of 

Education Development, 

Kalthoom Al Balooshi said 

the new schools will help in 

reaching the Emirate’s goal of 

having 360,000 seats by 2020. 

Dubai Municipality is to 

implement phase 1 of a new 

global e-address system, 

Makani, that will allow 

people to locate entrances 

of buildings with effect from 

October, reported WAM. 

GIS Director Abdulhakim 

Malikat revealed that the 

civic body was finalising 

contractual procedures for the 

multi-phase smart project. 

‘’Phase 1 will cover 40,000 

buildings in 63 districts, 

in addition to government 

departments and the metro 

stations,’’ he said, adding 

that Dubai wil become the 

first city in the world to use 

numbers to locate places. 

The Makani e-map 

application will provide new 

names for streets, simplify the 

address system and coordinate 

location databases for 

government and private bodies. 

Finance 

The consortium of ACWA 

Power and TSK has achieved 

financial close for the 260 MWp 

Phase II of Mohammed bin 

Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. 

The project debt for the solar 

photovoltaic independent power 

project (IPP) has been structured 

as long-term limited recourse 

project financing and funded by a 

group of regional banks - First Gulf 

Bank (FGB), The Saudi National 

Commercial Bank (NCB) and 

Samba Financial Group (Samba). 

On 26 March 2015, the Dubai 

Electricity and Water Authority 

(DEWA) signed a 25-year 

Power Purchase Agreement 

(PPA) with the ACWA Power 

led consortium on based on a 

levelised tariff, which has set 

a global benchmark for utility 

scale solar PV power plants. 

Local flavour Phase 2 of Dubai’s solar park has been entirely funded by local banks 

Doha Bank has extended 

$600m in project financing 

to Leighton Contracting 

which was awarded Package 

D of Qatar’s Water Security 

Mega Reservoirs Project. 

The Habtoor Leighton Group 

(HLG) CEO and Managing 

Director, José A Lopez-Mons, 

said the award validated the 

high value placed by the client 

on the capabilities and proven 

performance of the Group 

which was awarded this project 

for Kahramaa last March. 

“Doha Bank is committed to 

using our considerable resources 

to support infrastructure 

development in Qatar and 

help build a more prosperous 

and sustainable future for 

our nation and its people,” 

said Dr R Seetharaman, 

Group CEO of Doha Bank. 

IFC, a member of the World 

Bank Group, committed 

a total of $783m (47% of 

which was mobilised) to 

infrastructure projects in 

the Middle East and North 

Africa fiscal year 2015 to 

boost renewable energy. 

In fiscal 2014, IFC 

invested $639m in the sector, 

demonstrating its commitment 

to tackling the region’s biggest 

development challenges. 

Over the last year, IFC 

closed an innovative $208m 

debt package to fund the 

construction of seven solar 

photovoltaic plants in Jordan 

– the largest-ever private 

sector-led solar project 

in the MENA region. 

IFC also invested $25m in 

Alcazar Energy to help develop 

a series of renewable energy 

projects in the Middle East, 

Turkey, and Africa, with a focus 

on solar and wind power plants. 


GLOBAL UPDATE 

Round Up 

The recent troubles affecting 

Chinese solar photovoltaic 

(PV) manufacturer Hanergy 

are largely the product of an 

overly optimistic approach 

regarding its thin-film 

modules, said GlobalData. 

China’s solar PV industry 

has been severely affected 

by huge production capacity 

additions since 2010. “Thin-film 

contributes around 10% of solar 

PV installation in China as of 2015 

and the technology, in comparison 

to C-Si, has not achieved its 

economies of scale,” said Amit 

Sharma, GlobalData’s Analyst 

covering Power. “However, 

Hanergy has been aggressively 

promoting and increasing its 

manufacturing capacity for thinfilm, 

based on optimism for the 

technology, rather than aligning it 

to upcoming project pipelines.” 

The European Investment 

Bank (EIB) has approved 

nearly $11bn of new lending for 

strategic infrastructure across 

Europe and around the world, 

including road, rail, ports, 

inland waterways, and airports. 

The EIB board also agreed to 

support investment in renewable 

energy infrastructure in Nepal, 

emergency reconstruction of 

municipal infrastructure in 

Tbilisi following recent floods, 

and rehabilitation of the 41km 

access road to East Africa’s 

principal sea port in Mombasa. 

The board approved 

investment in environmental, 

renewable energy and climate 

related projects in Austria, France, 

Germany and the UK, as well as 

Armenia, Kazakhstan and across 

Africa. Lending to improve SME 

access to finance included new 

engagements in Europe as well as 

Tunisia, South Africa and Zambia. 

Heathrow Airport The government will take a decision on a third runway by end-2015 

Honeywell Process Solutions 

(HPS) and Intel Security 

have announced they will 

collaborate to help bolster 

protection of critical 

industrial infrastructure 

and the Industrial Internet 

of Things (IIoT). 

Intel Security’s McAfee 

technologies will be integrated 

with Honeywell’s Industrial Cyber 

Security Solutions, providing 

Honeywell customers with 

enhanced security software to 

protect their control systems 

from malware and misuse. 

Respondents to a global survey 

on cyber security conducted by 

Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of 

Honeywell cited cyber attacks 

on industrial targets as major 

concern. Two thirds said that the 

oil and gas, chemicals and power 

industries were particularly 

vulnerable to cyber attacks. 

Heathrow will start laying 

the groundwork to build a 

third runway, even though the 

government is yet to give the 

green light to the controversial 

$27.30bn infrastructure 

project, reported The Telegraph. 

Heathrow, which wants 

to start building in 2020, will 

launch a so-called “procurement 

forum” of representatives across 

a variety of industries to help it 

formulate its plans, as it moves 

into what it describes as the 

“delivery phase” of its politically 

contentious expansion. 

However, David Cameron, the 

prime minister, has said a final 

decision will be made on airport 

expansion by the end of the year. 

Furthermore, Heathrow faces 

a battle with Gatwick, which 

had proposed a second runway, 

a plan that was not backed by 

the Airport Commission. 

Suez Canal The extended ‘Suez Canal Axis’ started full operations in August 

The extended Suez Canal, 

which will allow simultaneous 

passage of vessels in both 

directions, was officially 

opened on August 6, 2015. 

The construction of the 

‘Suez Canal Axis’ with a length 

of 35km, and the expansion 

and deepening of the existing 

channels with a length of 37km, 

were launched in August 2014 

at a cost $9bn. The project 

was funded through the issue 

of government bonds sold to 

citizens and local companies. 

The ‘Suez Canal Axis’ is 

expected to more than double 

Suez revenues from $5.3bn 

expected at the end of 2015 

to $13.2bn in 2023, according 

to official estimates. 

GE Oil & Gas will provide 

high-end turbomachinery 

for Phase 1 of the landmark 

Trans-Anatolian Natural 

Gas Pipeline (TANAP) - a 

partnership between the State 

Oil Company of Azerbaijan 

(SOCAR), Turkey’s stateowned 

BOTAŞ (Petroleum 

Pipeline Corporation), and 

BP - that will transport gas 

from Azerbaijan via Turkey 

to European energy markets. 

The multi-million dollar 

contract provides aeroderivative 

gas turbines with compressors, 

all manufactured, packaged 

and tested by GE Oil & Gas in 

Florence (Italy) for shipment 

in 2017. The deal supports 

the commissioning of Phase 

1 of TANAP scheduled to 

come online in 2018. 

“This marks a key milestone 

for GE Oil & Gas and underlines 

our long-term commitment 

to Turkey where GE has been 

driving several localisation 

initiatives as part of its $900m 

investment announced in 2012 in 

support of Turkey’s Vision 2023,” 

said Rami Qasem, President & 

CEO, GE Oil & Gas MENAT. 


QUOTE BOARD 

8th Climate Control Conference (C3) 

 

“In terms of energy savings, we’re trying to achieve around 

19 kWh by 2030 – which is not an aggregate – and 47 billion 

imperial gallon of water. We started with public buildings 

in 2010, and when buildings are commissioned, we compare 

them to a building with a similar footprint before the 

building codes, so we can assess and push for the target of 

30% reduction of power consumption” 

Faisal Ali Rashid, Director for Demand Side Management, 

Dubai Supreme Council of Energy on the council’s energy efficiency strategy 

“Can we build a project that addresses all 

sustainability aspects without extra costs? This was 

the main challenge for us. We started to do the studies. 

We ended up with the conclusion that you can cover all 

aspects of the environment without compromising on 

quality and without spending extra. As developers and 

contractors, we don’t see the costs of a project from 

just one angle. We see it in a holistic way, where all the 

savings that should be implemented are calculated for” 

Faris Saeed, CEO, Diamond Developers on why his company 

decided to go ahead with The Sustainable City project 

“It is the vision of the government for Dubai to be 

ranked among the smartest cities in the world by 

2017, and to become a smart city, we must make smart 

buildings….. Our focus now is to start with the building 

and to integrate the city’s infrastructure with its 

buildings. Building management systems are available, 

and our infrastructure in Dubai is modern, so the 

transition to smart buildings should not be difficult.” 

Salim Mohammad Zid, Senior Civil Engineer, Dubai Municipality 

on how the government is defining a smart building 

“I can’t say that I agree with that, because we’ve been 

working on bigger scale projects recently. In fact, we just 

did one big project in Saudi Arabia, and the sustainability 

weight in the tender evaluation was five per cent – the 

same percentage given to quality and safety. That 

was important to us, because we are concerned about 

sustainability, and in cases where that’s used to evaluate 

us, sustainability is also what clients are paying for. 

Samir Thabet, Sustainability Coordination Manager, 

Consolidated Contractors Company on whether sustainability 

is compromised in the chase for cheapest contractor 

“The only thing that 

convinces them 

(management) is when 

you actually bring the cost 

down; when you say, ‘Listen 

I’m going to do this project, 

and I will bring your energy 

bills [down] by 30 to 40%.’ 

That excites them. At the 

top level, I don’t think there 

was a commitment to look 

at the environment in a 

positive way, unless it was a 

side effect. If bringing down 

the energy bills helps the 

environment, then good. 

Environment CSR is a very 

fashionable statement, but 

management is only looking 

to bring the costs down.” 

Bharat Asarpota, Maintenance 

Engineer, Emarat responding to 

a question on whether owners, in 

general, truly want to be sustainable 


QUOTE BOARD 

8th Climate Control Conference (C3) 

 

“. . . what the RSB has done is that it has looked at the 

market for retrofits. We looked at all aspects and what we 

observed is that, at the supply side, there are a few ESCOs 

that have been operating in Dubai for some time. But they are 

very limited and they have had limited growth. We worked to 

understand why that growth hasn’t been forthcoming” 

James Grinnell, Head of Water – Dubai Regulatory and Supervisory 

Bureau (RSB) on the development of Dubai’s ESCO 

(Energy Service Companies) market 

“For regulation, we 

drafted a federal law on 

energy and conservation. 

The law focused on 

three main sectors: 

building, industry 

and transportation. 

Since we have huge 

energy consumption 

in the building sector, 

we drafted the first 

phase for buildings, 

where we focus on all 

buildings – government 

to local. This law will 

help us to encourage or 

influence the behaviour 

of people towards 

energy conservation” 

Somayyah Abdulla Alyammahi, 

Senior Green Building Architect, 

UAE Ministry of Energy on the 

ministry’s objective 

for energy efficiency 

“Regulation only is the tip of the iceberg, while 

self-regulation is at the bottom. So the tip can 

only nudge things. Regulation has to come from 

within. And until and unless an innovative 

approach has been applied, I think our solutions 

have to be very different. We have to do a lot of 

unlearning. Right now, the focus is at the tip of 

the iceberg, which should not be the case” 

Sarfraz H Dairkee, Secretary of the Board, Emirates Green 

Building Council (EGBC) on the importance of self-regulation 

“And yes, it [TSE] is cost-effective; its price is 

1.3 AED per cubic metre. This is more attractive 

than the cost of DEWA water. And it is used for 

several applications. One of them is greenery and 

landscaping. We have mapped out and found that 

TSE can be used in 23 different applications” 

“So, basically, before going into FM, as an owner, first 

you need to set your KPIs. As an owner, you should set 

your energy targets, your IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) 

targets – all these things should be there so that when 

you get a tender from different FM companies, you can 

compare and know what a particular FM company is 

bringing and what another FM company is bringing. 

Currently, the situation that is played out involves the 

owner asking FM companies for a general maintenance 

contract and the lowest bidder getting the project. 

on the 

critical role of FM (Facility Management) firms in sustaining Indoor 

Environmental Quality (IEQ) and energy efficiency aspirations 

Eng. Redha Salman, Director of STP Department 

– Dubai Municipality (DM) on the availability of 

enough TSE (treated sewage effluent) in Dubai 


IN FOCUS 

BIM 

It’s about communication 

Alan Lamont, Vice President, Bentley Systems speaks to Infrastructure Middle 

East about the role of information management in the implementation of Building 

Information Modelling (BIM) 

hat are the necessary 

conditions for proper 

W 

implementation of 

Building Information 

Modelling (BIM)? 

BIM has two important 

levels to it – 3D 

modelling, which people tend to be familiar 

with, is only one aspect. What they often fail 

to see is the workflow underneath. 

They might be able to do certain things 

in certain departments but when it comes 

to communicating with others, they have no 

idea. A quick fix solution is to mandate that 

everybody needs to use the same file format 

but you end up seeing bizarre things like an 

architectural tool being used for railway design. 

What you really want to do is leave it to the 

experts to choose the right tool to do their job. 

The information exchange needs to be on a 

neutralised basis - what we in Bentley term as 

the ‘i-model.’ 

Most people are still stuck at 3D modelling 

with a few going down to the workflow level. 

They need to address this internally and work 

on the JVs and the collaboration between the 

project teams. 

It’s like a good marriage – if you want 

to have a good marriage, you got to have 

good communication that leads to good 

understanding of each other. If one starts 

talking out of line or starts insulting the other, 

that’s when things get out of hand. The key to 

successful information management is making 

sure everybody speaks the same language. 

Information exchange can be done 

even if the file format isn’t the same. For 

example, we have developed a JT interface 

(which is the data interface between 

Siemens and CATIA)with our products. 

We solved the problem by addressing the 

workflow. Otherwise, the two models would 

never have met. 

Alan Lamont 

We create the language between the 

parties which gets adopted in the overall 

implementation. 

Are the BIM solution providers talking to 

each other? 

Within the industry, we talk to each other and 

try to identify the critical issues. If we take 

the automotive industry as an example, the 

guys designing the body have a parametric 

modelling tool; the guys designing the engine 

have a different tool and the guys designing 

the factory have a different tool. How do you 

combine the workflow? These guys never see 

each other unless they meet on site. 

We looked at their systems, looked at our 

system and worked together with Siemens 

on transferring essential data between the 

two systems in either direction. Last year, 

we announced the integration of our pointcloud 

BIM advancement with the art process 

simulation tools in Siemens’ Tecnomatix 

software for 3D digital factory automation. 

This helps to integrate the digital product 

and process lifecycle with the factory’s 

digital design. 

We worked with Trimble to get BIM data 

to measurement devices. When you look 

through your surveying tool, you see not only 

real life but also the virtual model overlaid. 

How do C-level executives see the value 

of BIM? 

Showing the value is always a tricky 

question. When you think about the 

construction industry and the cost – you 

bid low and fix it later - verily, we are talking 

about 10-15% cost over-run and negotiation 

afterwards. The onus of responsibility is on 

the construction firm to give a 100% solid 

bid. Most bids today are based on 60% design 

but what you want is to get to 90% design, 

which comes down to the processes within 

the company. C-level executives today are 

in a position when they submit the bid; they 

can tell you right at the beginning whether 

it’s going to be successful or not. They know 

their price is correct, and the CEO can sleep 

at night because he knows he is going to be 

profitable on that project. 

Has BIM awareness percolated to 

academia? 

Educational institutions are expected to 

train students about better practices, and 

adoption of best practices. But I feel a lot 

of the institutions have become product 

trainers. They adopt one product and say 

that’s the only one, and send out students 

who believe that’s the only option. This is the 

wrong approach. 

I believe institutes should show different 

options and alternatives so that the student 

comes out ready for the industry. 

The technology that is coming out has its 

inherent issues, which is related to the way 

it is driven. People end up thinking wrongly 

that a technology problem is a BIM problem. 

In reality, the problem has nothing to do with 

the BIM process. 

Institutes need to educate themselves 

about what is going in the industry instead of 

settling for a one-sided view. Otherwise, they 

risk becoming software outlets. 


AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR 

Stone Design and Technology & Construction Equipment 

www.msafrica.net 

vfi@veronafiere.it 

2-5 November 2015 CAIRO, Egypt 

CAIRO INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTER 

organized by 

co-located with 

www.projexafrica.com

23 - 26 NOVEMBER 2015 

Dubai World Trade Centre 

11:00 - 19:00 Daily 

DESIGN. 

CONSTRUCT. 

DELIVER. 

PARTICIPATE IN THE LARGEST CONSTRUCTION EVENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST 

Get Guaranteed Products 

Source 1000s of certified, innovative 

and regionally distributed products 

Develop Your Career 

Advance professionally with 

64+ FREE certified workshops 

Gain Technical Insight 

The latest product knowledge 

from the professionals 

NEW! 

REGISTER FOR FREE ENTRY 

AND SAVE AED150! 

www.thebig5.ae/inregister 

Real time updates on: 

The Big 5 Focus is a new hall offering 

more exhibitors and areas dedicated to 

technology, project management, prize 

giveaways and more… 

Platinum 

Sponsor 

Bathroom 

Solutions Partner 

Free Zone 

Partner 

Hotel Contracting 

Partner 

Show Daily 

Sponsor 

Adhesives and 

Sealants Partner 

Construction 

Solutions Partner 

Inverter 

Expert

MIDDLE EAST INFRASTRUCTURE TENDERS 

Infrastructure Tenders 

Our monthly analysis of new tenders and key projects across the region 

OMAN NATIONAL 

RAILWAY PROJECT 

LNG IMPORT & RE- 

GASIFICATION TERMINAL 

PROJECT - AL ZOUR 

MAKKAH MASS RAIL 

TRANSIT SYSTEM 

DEVELOPMENT PROJECT 

PTA & PET COMPLEX 

PROJECT SOHAR 

PORT 

BUDGET: $15,000,000,000 

BUDGET: $3,300,000,000 

BUDGET: $16,000,000,000 

BUDGET: $600,000,000 

Territory: Oman 

Client Name: Ministry of Transport 

Description: Engineering, 

Procurement & Construction 

(EPC) contract for 2,135km-long 

national railway network. 

Period: 2018 

Status: New Tender 

Territory: Kuwait 

Client Name: KNPC 

Description: EPC contract to 

build a an onshore Liquefied 

Natural Gas (LNG) import and 

re-gasification terminal. 

Period: 2020 


Territory: KSA 

Client Name: Makkah Mass Rail 

Transit Company 

Description: Development of a 188- 

km metro system with four lines and 

88 stations. 

Period: 2020 


Territory: Oman 

Client Name: Oman Oil Company 

Description: EPC contract to build a 

1.1 MTPA Purified Terephthalic Acid 

plant and 250,000 TPA Polyethylene 

Terephthalate plant. 

Period: 2016 




Top Tenders 

UAE 

AL SHARIA PARK 


Project Number: (IO) 95/2015 

Client Name: Abu 

Dhabi Municipality 

Address: Salam Street, Abu Dhabi 

Phone: (+971-2) 678 8888 

Fax: (+971-2) 677 4919 

Website: www.adm.gov.ae 

Description: The Al Sharia 

Park is located along E11 

highway between Abu Dhabi 

and Dubai at an interchange 

near Al Rahba in Plot P2, 

Ajban Sector. Developers will fund, 

build and operate the project under 

a Musataha contract, which 

entitles them to benefit from 

the land and facilities for 32 

years following which the 

ownership reverts back to 

the Municipality at nil 

premium. Tender closing date 

is September 29, 2015. 


Tender Categories: 

Construction & Contracting 

Leisure & Entertainment 

CONSULTANCY SERVICES 

Project Number: 2131500047 

Client Name: Dubai Electricity 

& Water Authority (DEWA) 

Address: Head Office, Near Wafi 

Shopping Mall, Zabeel East, Dubai 

Phone: (+971-4) 601 9999 

Fax: (+971-4) 601 9995 

Website: www.dewa.gov.ae 

Description: Provision of 

consultancy services for utilisation 

of coal combustion byproducts 

from the Hassyan clean coal power 

complex. The closing date for 

the tender is October 25, 2015. 


Tender Categories: Power 

& Alternative Energy 

WEST YAS VILLA 

COMPLEX PROJECT - 

YAS ISLAND ZONE KT 

Project Number: WPR758-U 

Client Name: ALDAR Properties 

Address: 13th Floor, Abu Dhabi 

Chamber of Commerce Tower 

Phone: (+971-2) 810 5555 

Fax: (+971-2) 810 5550 

Website: www.aldar.com 

Description: Development of 

1,017 four and five-bedroom 

villas, each comprising a 

ground floor and an additional 

floor, including all community 

facilities. The villas, located 

along the island’s mangroves, are 

expected to be handed over to 

buyers by the end of 2017. 

Bids have been submitted for 

the main contract and are 

currently under evaluation. An 

award is expected in October 2015. 


Tender Categories: 

Leisure & Entertainment; 

Construction & Contracting; Hotels 

OMAN 

NEW SULTAN 

QABOOS HOSPITAL 

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT 

Project Number: 17/2015-O/11 

Client Name: Ministry of Health 

Address: Opp. Khoula Hospital, 

Bldg. No. 105, Muscat PC 103 

Phone: (+968-24) 602 177 

Fax: (+968-24) 602 647 

Website: www.moh.gov.om 

Description: Construction 

of a new hospital in Salalah 

comprising 5 storeys offering 

700 beds and specialist 

units. The project will 

cover an area of 

200,000 sqm and offer adult 

and pediatric emergency 

services, physiotherapy, 

nuclear medicine, dietary services, 

warehouses, a pharmacy and a 

laboratory. Sixteen construction 

firms have been prequalified for the 

project. Client has again extended 

the closing date to submit bids 

for the main contract from the 

previous deadline of 

August 31, 2015 


Period: 2018 

Tender Categories: Construction & 

Contracting; Medical & Healthcare 

DARIS COPPER 

GOLD PROCESSING 

PLANT PROJECT 

Project Number: ZPR648-O 

Client Name: Daris Resources 

Address: Al Tammam Trading 

Establishment Building, Muscat 

Phone: (+968-24) 794 331 

Fax: (+968-24) 780 180 

Website: www.althammam.com 

Description: The project involves 

the development of a Copper 

Gold processing plant with 

production capacity of 800,000 

TPA. The plant will process mineral 

ores extracted from deposits 

discovered in the Washihi and 

Daris areas of Dakhiliyah and 

Batinah North governorates. 

Australia-based minerals 

exploration and mining 

development company Alara 

Resources has announced the 

formal launch of a study 

into the feasibility of 

establishing this plant, which 

will be completed in four 

months. 

Period: 2016 


Tender Categories: Industrial 

& Special Projects 

KUWAIT 

KABD WASTE-TO- 

ENERGY PLANT PROJECT 

Project Number: MPP2620-K 

Client Name: Kuwait Authority 

for Partnership Projects (KAPP) 

Address: Touristic Enterprises 

Co. Bldg., Shuwaikh 

Phone: (+965) 2496 5900 

E-mail: (+965) 2496 5901 

Website: www.ptb.gov.kw 

Description: Build-Operate-Transfer 

(BOT) contract for the development 

of a waste-to-energy plant with initial 

capacity of 3,275 tonnes/day. Client 

will enter into a 30-year contract 

with the winning investor. This will 

include 2 years for construction 



JEDDAH PUBLIC 

TRANSPORT 


QATAR 

and equipment installation. The 

client has prequalified five groups 

to participate in the BOT contract 

from France, Spain and Austria. 

Period: 2015 


Tender Categories: Power 

& Alternative Energy; 

Sewerage & Drainage 

AL KHIRAN INDEPENDENT 

WATER & POWER 

PROJECT - PHASE 1 

Project Number: ZPR250-K 

Client Name: Kuwait Authority 

for Partnership Projects (KAPP) 

Address: Touristic Enterprises 

Co. Bldg., Shuwaikh 

Phone: (+965) 2496 5900 

E-mail: (+965) 2496 5901 

Website: www.ptb.gov.kw 


a Build-Operate-Transfer 

(BOT) contract to build an 

independent water and power plant 

(IWPP) with capacity of 1,800 MW 

of power and 125 MIGD of water. 

Client has prequalified seven 

consortiums to participate in 

the bidding process for the main 

contract. They are the same seven 

lead developers for the AlZour North 

2 IWPP. Client is also expected to 

stagger the submission date by six 

months due to the size of this project. 

Period: 2015 


Tender categories: Power & 

Alternative Energy; Water Works 

KSA 

HASBAH SOUR GAS FIELD 

EXPANSION PROJECT 

Project Number: WPR749-SA 

Client Name: Saudi Aramco 

Address: Dhahran 31311 

Phone:(+966-13) 872 0115 

Fax: (+966-13) 873 8190 

Website: www.aramco.com 

Description: This project involves 

expansion of the offshore Hasbah 

sour gas field, which will feed the 

planned Fadhili gas plant with 

2bn standard cubic feet per 

day (scfd) of gas, while the 

remaining 500m scfd will 

come from Khursaniyah. 

The project is an important 

component of Fadhili project. 

The client has extended the 

deadline to submit bids for the 

EPC contract by almost a month 

from the previous deadline of 

September 20, 2015, as firms 

needed more time to prepare 

the offers. 

Period: 2018 


Tender Categories: Gas 

Processing & Distribution 

Project Number: ZPR088-SA 

Client Name: Jeddah Municipality 

Address: Jeddah 21146 

Phone:(+966-12) 614 9999 

Fax: (+966-12) 614 9292 

Website: www.jeddah.gov.sa 


the develoment of a public 

transport programme comprising 

a Metro network, Tramway and 

Light Rail Transit. Arab Center for 

Engineering Studies (ACES) has been 

awarded the geotechnical investigation 

contract for the preliminary 

engineering design phase. Metro 

Jeddah Company (MJC) has invited 

initial expressions of interest (EOI) for 

the civil works contract of the metro 

network. It has also invited EoI and 

prequalification to design, build, 

procure, supply, operate and 

maintain a light rail transit 

(LRT) and corniche tramway 

civil works and rolling stock. 

Period: 2022 


Tender Categories: Public 

Transportation Projects 

QATAR LONG 

DISTANCE RAILWAY 

NETWORK PROJECT 

Project Number: MPP1592-Q 

Client Name: Qatar 

Railways Company (QRC) 

Address: Doha 

Fax: (+974) 4497 4333 

Description: The project 

involves construction of a 

400-km-long railway network. 

The client has prequalified 

15 consortiums for the Phase 1. 

Period: 2018 


Tender Categories: Public 

Transportation Projects 

PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION 

WITH MIDDLE EAST TENDERS 


TEN UAE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS 

UAE 

INFRASTRUCTURE 

PROJECTS 

Despite the slide in oil prices, 

the UAE’s construction market 

continues to grow at a steady pace on 

the back of government and private 

spending 

UPPER ZAKUM CRUDE 

INCREMENT PROJECT 

Owner: Zakum 

Development Company 

(ZADCO) 

Budget: $10bn 

Progress: Contracts 

awarded 

It is part of the client’s programme 

to increase crude production 

capacity to 750,000 bpd from 500,000 

bpd at present. The scheme is being 

implemented in JV with US’ ExxonMobil, 

which holds a 28% stake. The major civil 

engineering works on this project have been 

completed. Amec Foster Wheeler has been 

awarded an extension to its existing project 

management consultancy (PMC) 

contract on this scheme. Client will 

oversee the contractors’ delivery of 

reimbursable EPC scopes of work, 

commissioning and startup support. 

Work is scheduled for completion 

in December 2017. 



TACAMOOL 

PETROCHEMICALS 

COMPLEX 

Owner: Abu Dhabi National 

Chemicals Company 

Budget: $10bn 

Progress: Bids under 

evaluation 

This project will be developed at Al Gharbia 

in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi, and 

is the first phase of a much larger planned 

development. Tacamool will produce more 

than 7m tonnes/year of products, including 

basic commodity polymers such as olyethylene 

and polypropylene, advanced plastics 

such as polycarbonate and acetone. Bids 

are currently under evaluation for EPC 

contract to build the aromatics complex. 

US’ CH2M Hill carried out the frontend 

engineering and design (FEED) contract 

for the complex. Technical EPC bids 

have been submitted for the offsites 

and utilities package; however, the deadline for 

commercial bids on this package is yet to be set. 

MARYAH PLAZA MIXED 

USE PROJECT 

Owner: Mubadala 

Development Company 

Budget: $1bn 

Progress: Bid evaluation 

The scheme, which is being developed 

in a JV with Taiwan’s Farglory Group, 

will come up on the Al Maryah Island 

in Abu Dhabi. It will be a mixed-use 

community with residential apartments, 

5 star hotel, serviced apartments, 

commercial units and a waterfront retail 

promenade. The towers will spread 

over an area of 42,000 sqm offering 

435 luxury apartments and a fivestar 

hotel tower offering 180 hotel rooms. At the 

ground level, there will be restaurants, cafes 

and shops. The project will also include 

construction of 65,000 sqm of car 

parking space. Evaluation of bids is 

still underway for the main contract. 

The deadline for completion of the 

project was originally scheduled. 

REEM MALL DEVELOPMENT 

PROJECT- REEM ISLAND 

Owner: National Real Estate 

Company (Kuwait) 

Budget: $1bn 

Progress: Design approved 

Spread across two million sq ft, Reem Mall, 

which will come up on Abu Dhabi’s Reem 

Island, will feature approximately 450 stores, 

including 85 restaurants and a range of 

family-focused entertainment offerings. The 

project has taken a significant step forward 

after Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council 

(UPC) granted its approval for the initial 

design. The Concept Planning Report (CPR) 

agreement paves the way for Enabling Works 

Permit, also issued by UPC, which will 

allow for construction to commence 

this year. In July, the owner and partner 

company UPAC announced a new 

corporate structure for this project. UPAC, 

through its real estate subsidiary, Al Arfaj 

Real Estate Company, will invest up to 

$224m over the next three years. 



JEBEL ALI REFINERY 

UPGRADE PROJECT 

Owner: Emirates National 

Oil Company (ENOC) 

Budget: $1bn 

Progress: EPC 

prequalification 

This project involves upgrading of the 

existing Jebel Ali Refinery in Dubai. 

The refinery currently processes 

120,000 bpd of crude and has two trains 

of condensate. Client is planning 

to add two new processing trains - jet 

and diesel hydrotreaters, and an 

isomerisation unit that will lead to the 

production of Euro 5 grade products such 

as highoctane gasoline, lowsulphur 

jet fuel and ultralow sulphur diesel. ENOC 

has invited companies to submit technical 

EPC proposals by November 16, 2015. 

Prequalifiers for the EPC contract include 

South Korea’s GS Engineering & 

Construction, UK- based Petrofac and 

Italy’s Saipem among other firms. USbased 

KBR carried out the FEED. 

ETIHAD RAIL PROJECT 

PHASE 2 (PACKAGE A 

CONTRACT C0303 

Owner: Etihad Rail 

Budget: $800m 

Progress: Re-tendered 

The client has re-tendered the main 

contract on this project without 

the connection to Oman. In August, 

the bid submission deadline for main 

contract was extended from the previous 

deadline of July 30, 2015. Prior to the 

retendering, Etihad Rail was involved 

in extended negotiations with Italy’s 

Salini Impregilo / South Korea’s Samsung 

C&T / local Tristar and China 

Railway Construction Company / local 

Ghantoot Group. Submission of technical 

and commercial bids is currently 

underway for the main contract. An 

award is expected in November 2015, with 

construction anticipated to commence in 

December 2015. Client has invited 

consultants to resubmit PMC bids. 

MIRDIF HILLS MIXED USE 


Owner: Dubai Investments 

Budget: $680m 

Progress: Prequalification 

for main contract 

The Mirdif Hills mixed use project 

is being developed in Mirdif area of 

Dubai by Dubai Investments Real 

Estate Company (DIRC) and cover a 

total builtup area of 251,000 sqm. It is 

envisioned as a self-contained community 

comprising residential apartments, 

corporate offices and retail outlets. Local 

Al Arif Contracting Company had 

been appointed as the main contractor before 

the project was put on hold in 2009 due to 

lack of availability of mortgage financing. 

The project was revived last year. It 

is understood that 17 companies have 

prequalified for the main contract. UK’s 

JDA Architects has been appointed as the 

lead architect, while local A2Z Architectural 

Engineering is acting as the consultant. 



JEBEL ALI STP (SEWAGE 

TREATMENT PLANT) PHASE 2 

Owner: Dubai Municipality 

Budget: $410m 

Progress: Bids submission 

for main contract 

The client has invited companies to 

prequalify and submit bids for the EPC 

contract. Contractors have been invited 

to submit tender proposals in three parts. 

The deadline for prequalification was July 

12, 2015. For the technical and financial 

part, prequalified contractors will have 

until September 13, 2015, to submit bids. 

Phase 2 will use the existing infrastructure 

and roads that serve the first phase. The 

construction contract will include a 

provisional option for one-year operation 

and maintenance (O&M) of the entire STP. 

On completion, the plant is expected to 

decrease the load gradually on existing Al 

Aweer sewage treatment plant. Jebel Ali 

STP will be one of the largest in the world, 

serving an ultimate population of 4.5m. 

BURJEEL MEDICAL CITY 

PROJECT 

Owner: VPS Healthcare 

Group - Abu Dhabi 

Budget: $380m 

Progress: Bid evaluation 

underway 

This project will be located within 

Mohammed Bin Zayed City and cover a 

gross floor area of 82,000 sqm. At the 

centre of the Medical City lies the Main 

Hospital with its basement, 4 podiums, 

4 towers and a helipad for airborne 

patient transport. This landmark 

project focuses on ultraspecialised 

domains like Oncology, LongTerm 

Care, and Wellness, and is expected to 

become the largest private Medical 

Healthcare Facility in Abu Dhabi. In 

December 2014, local NSCC was awarded 

a contract to carry out the enabling 

works on this project. The award of 

main contract has been delayed to 

September 2015. 

MOHAMMED BIN RASHID 

AL MAKTOUM SOLAR 

PARK PHASE 3 - IPP 

Owner: Dubai Electricity & 

Water Authority (DEWA) 

Budget: TBA 

Progress: Bids invited for 

consultancy contract 

Phase 3 of the solar park will be based on 

solar photovoltaic technology as in Phases 

1 and 2. DEWA received bids from nine 

companies on May 3, 2015 for the advisory 

services contract on this scheme.Eight 

companies have been shortlisted for the 

consultancy contract and the evaluation is 

currently in final stages. The winner will 

help client to decide if it will award all of the 

800MW in one single phase or separately 

into sections. If developed in one phase, it 

would be the largest single PV solar scheme 

in the world. Once the consultancy company 

is on board, client will prepare the next 

stage, including the request for bids, which 

is expected by the end of 2015. 


CONSTRUCTION AND 

SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS 

OF EXCELLENCE 

AWARDS 2015 

NOVEMBER 24, 2015 

JUMEIRAH EMIRATES TOWERS, DUBAI 

www.BigProjectMEAwards.com 

THE INDUSTRY EVENT 

THAT IS 

GROWING 

EVERY YEAR 

RECOGNISING INDUSTRY 

EXCELLENCE 

FOR AWARD 

NOMINATION ENQUIRIES 

GAVIN DAVIDS 

EDITOR 

+971 4 375 5480 

GAVIN.DAVIDS@CPIMEDIAGROUP.COM 

FOR TABLE BOOKING & 

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES 

RAZ ISLAM 

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR 

+971 4 375 5471 

RAZ.ISLAM@CPIMEDIAGROUP.COM 

GOLD SPONSORS SILVER SPONSOR CATEGORY SPONSORS 

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

ISSUE 01 | SEPTEMBER 2015 

INSIDE 

SMART DUBAI MILESTONES p31 

5 WAYS DUBAI IS UNLEASHING ITS SMART 

POTENTIAL p32 

SECURING CITIES FROM CYBER ATTACKS p36 

INTERVIEWS 

 

p40 

 

 

p41 

p42

thalesgroup.com/smartcity 

Solutions for the smart city 

Wherever safety and security matter, we deliver 

ATTRACTING INWARD INVESTMENT 

Strong, well-run, infrastructure is vital 

to maintaining city attractiveness 

and competitiveness 

HOSTING LARGE EVENTS 

Enhance a city’s cultural reputation 

with co-ordinated multiple agency 

and authority support 

MASTERING SUSTAINABLE GROWTH 

Deliver greater transport capacity while 

increasing efficiency and reducing pollution 

DRIVING INCREASING MOBILITY 

Integrate passenger information systems 

enabling passengers to plan, book and travel 

on public transport with a single ticket 

SECURING CITIES 

Enhance citizen quality of life with co-ordinated 

incident prevention, detection and response 

Millions of critical decisions are made every day to protect the people 

and infrastructure of major cities. Through more services, greater efficiency 

and a focus on sustainable development, the vision of governments and 

public authorities is to turn these cities into smart cities. Thales is at the heart 

of this. By providing greater integration, interconnectivity, and leveraging 

existing infrastructure, our powerful management systems give decision 

makers the information and control they need to make more effective 

responses in critical environments. Every moment of every day, wherever 

safety and security are critical, Thales delivers.

DUBAI SMART CITY 

MILESTONES 

15TH JULY, 2015 

HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed 

bin Rashid Al Maktoum issues 

Executive Council Resolution No. 

27 of 2015 approving the new organisational 

structure of Dubai Smart Government (DSG). 

DSG Director-General, Ahmed Mohammed 

bin Humaidan, said that ‘Dubai Smart City,’ the 

slogan chosen by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin 

Rashid Al Maktoum will be adopted as DSG’s 

own slogan in the next phase of its operations. 

store offers more than 100 smart applications 

developed by UAE federal and local 

departments linking to 700 customer services 

from one location. 

forming the advisory board of the Dubai 

Smart Government (DSG). The board will 

be headed by the Director-General of the 

DSG, with nine members representing nine 

government agencies - the Dubai Police 

General Headquarters, State Security 

Department in Dubai, Dubai Roads and 

Transport Authority (RTA), the Dubai 

Municipality, Department of Economic 

Development in Dubai, Dubai Electricity 

and Water Authority, Dubai Customs, Dubai 

Health Authority, and a representative of 

the Dubai Smart Government. 

DEC 20, 2014 

HH Sheikh Hamdan bin 

Mohammed bin Rashid Al 

Maktoum issues a resolution with 

regards to the formation of the ‘Dubai Open 

Data Committee’. The Dubai Open Data 

Committee will implement a number of 

tasks which guarantees ease of information 

flow and Information security at the same 

time, wherein the committee will coordinate 

with the concerned entities in Dubai to 

define the scope of open data, classifications 

and issue priorities regarding circulation 

and sharing mechanisms. The open data 

committee is headed by Abdulla Al Madani 

from RTA. 

OCTOBER 12, 2014 

HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed 


directives to public departments 

and institutions in Dubai to prepare for 

implementing the initiative of ‘Happiness 

Index’, launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed 

bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in next months. 

Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Gargawi, 

Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Chairman 

of the Dubai Smart City project and 

Chairman of Executive Office of HH Sheikh 

Mohammed bin Rashid, said the immediate 

implementation of the Happiness Metre will 

depend on readiness of infrastructure at all 

points for population and tourists. 

MARCH 27, 2014 

The UAE government launched the 

first store for Smart Government 

Applications on the global level 

through the Android and IOS platforms. The 

MARCH 15, 2014 

The Supreme Committee for 

Dubai’s transition into a smart city 

holds its first meeting. During the 

meeting, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin 

Rashid Al Maktoum ordered the formation 

of an executive committee for the Smart City 

initiative to be chaired by Ahmed bin Bayat, 

and comprising of Abdullah Abdul Rahman 

Al Shaibani, Secretary General of Dubai 

Executive Council; Ahmed bin Humaidan, 

Director General of Dubai Smart Government 

Department; Aisha bin Bishr, Assistant 

Director-General of the Executive Office of HH 

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum 

and representatives from Department 

of Economic Development (DED), Dubai 

Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), 

Dubai police, Roads and Transport Authority 

(RTA); Dubai Municipality and Department of 

Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM). 

MARCH 5, 2014 

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin 

Rashid Al Maktoum launches the 

strategy to transform Dubai into 

a smart city. The Plan features six main 

pillars and 100 initiatives on transport, 

communications, infrastructure, electricity 

and economic services and urban planning as 

well as converting 1,000 government services 

into smart services during the next three years. 

Sheikh Mohammed said the “gigantic project” 

aims to touch the life “everyone in our country.” 

DECEMBER 25, 2013 

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed 


Resolution No (44) of 2013, 

OCTOBER 19, 2013 

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin 

Rashid Al Maktoum announces 

the launch of a new project aimed 

at transforming Dubai into a smart city. 

“We strive to create a new smart concept in 

running cities,” said Sheikh Mohammed. 

JUNE 30, 2013 

HH Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid 

Al Maktoum, Vice-President and 

Prime Minister of the UAE and 

Ruler of Dubai, orders amending the name 

of Dubai e-Government to Dubai Smart- 

Government. On June 29, Sheikh Hamdan bin 

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown 

Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai 

Executive Council, launched the Hamdan Bin 

Mohammed Smart Government Programme, 

laying the foundation for transforming the 

Dubai Government from e-government to 

smart government. [Dubai’s e-Government 

programme was launched in 2001] 



SMART CITIES 

Smartest City 

 

 

ubai Plan 2021 describes 

the future of Dubai 

D 

through holistic 

and complementary 

perspectives, divided 

into six themes, each 

highlighting a group of 

strategic developmental aims for Dubai 

The People: “City of Happy, Creative & 

Empowered People” 

 

 

 

to Live, Work & Visit” 

 

 

Global Economy” 

 

Excellent Government” 

 

 

to Gartner, the immediate impact of smart 

cities is expected to be in governance, 

transportation, R&D, retail, security, energy 

 

presents the five areas where Dubai is making 

rapid progress towards transforming itself 

into the smartest city in the world. 

“Our ambitions is that 

this project (Smart 

Dubai) touches the life 

of every individual in 

our country, or every 

mother in her house, or 

employee in his work or 

investor in his project, 

or a child in his school 

or a doctor in his clinic; 

our goal is to achieve a 

happier life for all and 

we ask God to help us 

achieve this.” 

HH SHEIKH MOHAMMAD BIN RASHID 

AL MAKTOUM, VICE-PRESIDENT AND PRIME 

MINISTER OF THE UAE AND RULER OF DUBAI 

SMART TRANSPORTATION 

 

 

transforming Dubai into a smart city, the 

 

charted out a roadmap for the transition 

to the smart city. The plan envisages the 

launch of at least 200 smart services 

via smartphones by the end of 2015 and 

undertaking 22 initiatives that support 

Dubai’s migration to a smart city. 

 

accomplished the transformation of all 

customer services into smart services tailormade 

to be innovative and easy-to-use. The 

total number of services which have been 

transformed into smart services has reached 

 

 

 

services are offered via nine apps available via 

 

 

 

integrated in the smart Drivers & Vehicles 

 

her driver’s license, vehicle ownership card, 

and distinctive numbers; all of which are being 

linked with the Traffic File. The customer can 

present the same from his or her smart gadget 

as an official document when needed. 

 

launched an automatic bus passengers 

counting system branded as Rasid to obtain 

accurate information and statistics about 

 

 

efficiency & performance of public buses 

operating on internal routes as well as intercity 

service, and controls their operation 

through advanced satellite-based navigation 

systems linked to the Operations Control 

 

 

verifies the accuracy of the real-time passenger 

information system at metro stations through 

620 screens dotting metro stations, bus 

stations, bus stops, airports and malls. 

 

 

with the Traffic Control Centre using 3G 

 

remotely controlling the timing of light signals 

and managing them to cope with the changes 

in the traffic flow, which translates into low 

 



SMART UTILITY 

 

 

to launch its smart app to enable customers to 

access all its services. 

 

 

 

 

solar panels to generate electricity. The PV 

 

 

up solar power panels on the rooftops of homes 

 

 

includes smart applications that use smart 

meters and grids that contribute to fastservice 

connection, fast response, and 

 

 

that will be operational in January 2016. 

 

meters will be installed by 2020 covering all 

over Dubai, and replacing all mechanical and 

electromechanical meters. 

The third initiative, the Green Charger, 

seeks to establish the infrastructure to build 

100 electric vehicle charging stations in 2015. 

 

 

 

types of electric vehicle charging stations - 

fast charging stations that take 30 minutes 

 

 

D3: PIONEERING ‘SMART CITY’ 

 

 

a purpose-built design district that could 

nurture emerging local talent and provide 

a home for the region’s creative thinkers in 

 

 

City initiative, d3 aims to combine intelligent 

design and operational initiatives alongside 

advanced technological solutions to improve 

all aspects of the community experience. 

 

 

 

this year, d3 awarded a contract to Cisco to 

 

 

SMART MUNICIPALITY 

 

 

 

implementation of smart parks and beaches 

 

on weather conditions, sea, temperatures 

and safety guidelines, as well as the launch 

 

relating to the services of the municipality. 

 

 

Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of 

 

 

kind smart system for geographic addresses. 

 

system enables users to locate different 

destinations in Dubai to an accuracy 

 

coordinates to Dubai building entrances 

which will be viewable on a digital map 

found in the free application which can be 

 

 

located in 63 different areas across Dubai 

 

 

 

information station powered entirely by solar 

 

services for the public, including free Wi-Fi 

up to a range of 53 meters, sustaining up to 

50 users at any given time. Following the 

 

there are plans for a further 53 locations to be 

spread across the Emirate throughout 2015. 

 

sustainable and smart city for 160,000 people. 

 

sustainable housing areas, a city centre that 

serves the economic, administrative and 

service activities and an electronic train track 

 

feature eco-friendly pedestrian paths with 

air-conditioning during summer as well as a 

green belt for agricultural purposes. 

SMART POLICING 

The Dubai Police’s smart city plans include 

implementation of a number of smart phone 

services that aim to reduce the burden on 

members of the public and ensure that none 

of them need to visit the police stations except 

 

The Dubai Police app includes important 

services that accessed on a mobile phone 

including payment of fines, applying for a 

good conduct certificate or reporting traffic 

violations or crimes. 

Dubai Police was one of the first 

organizations in the world to use Google 

Glass, allowing officers to identify road users 

who have outstanding warrants through 

their number plates. The use of Google 

Glass is part of Dubai Police’s ambition to 

develop the ‘smartest’ police stations in 

 

revealed plans to have robot police officers 

shortly. The ultimate plan is to debut a force 

 

from human controllers. 


CASE STUDY 

Bottomline Matters 

Helping you make the smartest decisions 

SUPPORTING THE ECONOMIC GROWTH 

AND SECURING RELIABLE ELECTRICITY 

SUPPLY IN THE MIDDLE EAST 

Recently ABB, the leading power and 

automation technology group, announced 

that turnkey substations will be provided 

to help integrate electricity from a new 

independent water and power plant into 

Qatar’s grid. Qatar has embarked on 

an ambitious infrastructure building 

programme to accommodate a population 

expanding at about three times the 

rate of its Gulf neighbours. ABB will be 

responsible for the design, engineering, 

supply, installation and commissioning 

of three turnkey substations, which will 

be used to feed the grid and later step 

down power for distribution along the 

new planned development areas. The 400 

kilovolt (kV) and 220/132 kV substations 

are equipped with state-of-the-art gasinsulated 

switchgear (GIS) as well as 

advanced control and protection and 

telecommunication systems. 

ABB is also supplying a substation 

solution for the expanded operations at 

Bahrain International Airport, which is 

currently undergoing a modernisation 

programme. Once completed, the airport 

is expected to see a 50% expansion in 

passenger traffic to about 14m passengers 

per year. ABB was selected by the 

Electricity & Water Authority (EWA) to 

design, supply, install and commission the 

GIS substation that includes key products 

like seven bays of 220 kV and 17 bays of 66 

kV GIS and IEC 61850 compliant systems 

for automation, control, protection and 

communication. 

the IEC document is properly known, is 

a comprehensive standard broken down 

into components that, for example, specify 

how the functionality of substation devices 

should be described – how they should 

communicate with each other, what they 

should communicate and how fast that 

communication should be. All of this is 

critical to realising the benefits of a truly 

digital substation. At the station level, things 

are generally digital, even in relatively old 

installations. SCADA (supervisory control 

and data acquisition) systems usually 

demand digital information and ABB has 

been selling fiber-optic “backbones” for more 

than two decades. Between the station level 

and the bays, fibers can carry digital data – 

conforming to IEC 61850 – but to become a 

true digital substation the standard has to 

extend even further. 

A FUTURE THAT 

ENABLES DIGITAL 

SUBSTATIONS 

By Stefan Meier,ABB Power Systems, 

Baden, Switzerland 

he concept of a digital 

substation has long been 

T 

an insubstantial thing – an 

ideal vision of all-knowing 

substations networked 

into an intelligent grid. 

But the concept is now a 

lot more practical so the specifics of what makes 

a substation “digital,” and why that is such a 

desirable thing, can be discussed. 

Digital signaling offers excellent 

reliability and capacity, and has been in use 

in power infrastructure for decades. Most 

existing electricity grids employ digital fiber- 

optic networks for the reliable and efficient 

transport of operation and supervision data 

from automation systems in substations 

– and even power line networks carry teleprotection 

signals these days. But only now 

are the advantages of standardised digital 

messaging starting to extend into the 

deeper substation environment. 

IEC 61850 

Without standards, the adoption of 

digital messaging for intrasubstation 

communication was piecemeal and 

fragmented, with mutually incompatible 

signaling creating an assortment of 

messaging within vertical silos. ABB has long 

championed industry adoption of IEC 61850, 

a standard with which the company has been 

intimately involved since its inception. 

“Communication networks and 

systems for power utility automation,” as 

 


CASE STUDY 

Deep digital 

The world beyond the bays is still 

predominately analog. The conventional 

primary equipment, like current and voltage 

transformers, is connected back to intelligent 

electronic devices (IEDs) using parallel copper 

wires carrying analog voltage signals (1a). The 

IEDs receiving that data perform first-level 

analysis and often provide the gateway into a 

digital world. But there is little advantage in 

keeping the data in analog form for so long and 

to properly earn the title of “digital substation” 

the transition to digital must take place as soon 

as the data is gathered (1b). 

Through permanent system supervision, 

digital equipment reduces the need for 

manual intervention and the adoption of 

the all-digital process bus allows sensitive 

equipment to be relocated into the bays. The 

digital equipment that has to be located out 

in the yard must be easy to fit, and every bit as 

robust and reliable as the analog equipment it 

is replacing or interfacing to (2). 

 

 

 

Non-conventional instrument 

transformers 

Non-conventional instrument transformers 

(NCITs) measure current and/or voltage 

without involving traditional current and 

voltage transformers to step down the 

primary currents and voltages to measurable 

values. Besides being more compact they also 

increase safety by for example eliminating the 

risk of open current transformer circuits, in 

which life threatening voltages can occur. 

Robustness and reliability requirements 

also apply to new technologies such as ABB’s 

non-conventional instrument transformers 

(NCITs), which are available for air-insulated 

as well as gas-insulated substations. The 

NCITs have to be every bit as reliable as the 

equipment being replaced – and they are. 

Over the past decade ABB has supplied more 

than 300 non-conventional instrument 

transformers that are combined current 

and voltage sensors fitted into gas-insulated 

switchgear for use in Queensland, Australia, 

and the utility has yet to see a single failure in 

the primary sensor. Extensive use of NCITs 

makes a substation simpler, cheaper, smaller 

and more efficient. 

Process bus 

As a conductor, every bit of copper in a 

substation is a potential risk. For example, 

where current is incorrectly disconnected, such 

as with an open secondary current transformer, 

arcing may occur as dangerously high voltages 

build and a copper line can suddenly carry high 

voltage, putting workers and equipment at risk. 

Less copper brings greater safety. 

The digital substation dispenses with 

copper by using the digital process bus on a 

fiber optic communication network. 

Just the removal of copper can, in some 

circumstances, justify the switch to digital. 

Going digital can cut the quantity of copper 

in a substation by 80% – a substantial cost 

saving and, more importantly, a significant 

safety enhancement. 

The process bus also adds flexibility: 

Digital devices can speak directly to each 

other (3). For this, IEC 61850 defines the 

GOOSE (generic object-orientated substation 

events) protocol for fast transmission 

of binary data. Part 9-2 of the standard 

describes the transmission of sampled values 

over Ethernet. These principles ensure the 

timely delivery of high-priority data via 

otherwise unpredictable Ethernet links. 

ABB’s ASF range of Ethernet switches fully 

supports this critical aspect of substation 

messaging. For large scale, mission-critical 

outdoor networks ABB’s Tropos wireless 

network technology is the solution for 

communication beyond substations. 

 

a reality 

Installations 

ABB has been heavily involved in IEC 61850 

since its inception. The standard is essential 

to ensure that utilities can mix and match 

equipment from different suppliers, but, 

through compliance testing, it also provides 

a benchmark against which manufacturers 

can be measured. ABB deployed the first 

commercial IEC 61850-9-2 installation in 

2011 at the Loganlea substation, for Powerlink 

Queensland. The use of ABB’s IEC 61850- 

9-2- compliant merging units and IEDs, not 

to mention NCITs, makes the deployment a 

landmark in the evolution of substation design. 

ABB created a retrofit solution based 

on specifications from Powerlink that 

has been applied on further substations 

from Powerlink Queensland following 

the successful commissioning of the first 

station. The refurbished substations have 

a MicroSCADA Pro SYS600 system and 

RTU560 gateway that manage Relion® 670 

protection and control IEDs (4), with REB500 

busbar protection. These all communicate 

over IEC 61850-9-2 to the merging units 

and over IEC 61850-8-1 to the station-level 

devices. 

 

A fully digital substation is smaller, more 

reliable, has a reduced life-cycle cost and 

is simpler to maintain and extend than an 

analog one. It offers increased safety and is 

more efficient than its analog equivalent. Not 

every substation needs to be catapulted into 

a wholesale digital world – it depends on the 

substation size and type, and whether it is 

a new station or a retrofit of the secondary 

system. Different approaches and solutions 

are required. ABB’s extensive IEC 61850 

experience and portfolio of NCITs, merging 

units, protection and control IEDs as well as 

station automation solutions eases utilities 

into the digital world. Flexible solutions allow 

utilities to set their own pace on their way 

toward the digital substation. 

© Photos and Illustration: ABB 



CRITICAL PROTECTION 

Secure operations 

Benga Erinle, President, Ultra Electronics 3eTI speaks to 

Infrastructure Middle East about assessing and managing 

the risks to critical infrastructure from cyber-attacks 

hat are the critical 

focus areas when it 

W 

comes to protecting 

infrastructure from 

cyber-attacks? 

We have to approach 

this the way we live. 

Security, whether physical or cyber, is all 

about risk management. For example, hotels 

don’t keep the doors locked because they want 

customers to come in. However, they have 

security cameras to record who is coming 

in and going out. On the other hand, you 

don’t leave the doors of your house open for 

anybody to come in whenever they want. Only 

your family members will have keys to get 

in. Similarly, with infrastructure operators, 

the first thing they do is build fences around 

the facility to keep people out. However, 

today, you don’t have to come into the facility 

physically to take something. You can come in 

through cyberspace. 

Of course, operators do put firewalls 

so keep unauthorised people out. But the 

“The vulnerability didn’t 

come about because of 

the integration of IT and 

OT systems. What has 

happened is that OT has 

begun to use the same 

technologies as IT” 

BENGA ERINLE 

firewall must also allow certain traffic, like 

email and web traffic, through. Criminals 

have become good at masking cyber-attacks 

as email. They will send you a file that has 

virus or malware that will come in through 

the firewall. Once the malware or virus passes 

through the firewall, the cybercriminals can 

own your system. 

The message is that operators should look 

beyond perimeter security; they have to think 

about what else needs to be done, once an 

attacker gets. On IT side, you can do a lot more 

things in terms of anti-virus software, host 

intrusion detection systems or patches. But in 

the process domain or operational technology 

(OT) side, we put in firewalls and that’s it. 

If something gets through that firewall, the 

operators may lack the ability to monitor and 

know that something has entered their system. 

That’s why Stuxnet was such a problem. When 

the malware got into the Iranian nuclear 

power plant, the operators had no way of 

knowing of that there was a lot of activity going 

on inside their control system. 

The question that always get asked is: 

are we importing IT vulnerabilities into 

operational layer? 

The vulnerability didn’t come about because 

of the integration of IT and OT systems. 

What has happened is that OT has begun 

to use the same technologies as IT. In the 

past, OT systems used to be all serial-based 

communications, electrical protocols and 

wiring. As a result, there was a significant 

cost to expanding and extending those 

systems. 

Automation vendors that were supporting 

OT for decades started leveraging IT into the 

OT domain. They realised that they could do 

things more efficiently, if they used networks 

like their IT friends. Today, in the OT domain, 

instead of a large, isolated and electrically 

connected consoles, we have the PC, which 

is smaller, more efficient and networked. But 

PCs come with vulnerabilities. 

Another misnomer was because we 

are ‘air-gapped’, we are secure, which is 

meaningless today. For example, if you have 

a document you want to read or work on, you 

will use email or a USB stick or a CD to get 

that file into the OT domain’s computers. 

Cybercriminals have become very clever in 

infecting files. All they have to do is infect a 

file, and human beings will transport that 

into the OT domain. 


Two-way communication is the linchpin of successful grid modernization. Modern 

wireless communication networks from ABB support broadband data, enabling vast 

improvements in efficiency, security and reliability that can permeate through 

utilities’ operations. For more information, please visit 

ABB Wireless 

E-mail: tropos.sales@nam.abb.com


In terms of risk management, where 

should the operator start? 

The starting point should be frameworks. 

They inform you to make sure that you 

are doing things in the right way. But you 

have to take that framework and adapt it to 

your operations. US’ National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST) has a risk 

management framework standard that the US 

government is starting to use. 

It begins by looking at what you do, your 

requirements, your concept of operations 

and output. Based on that, you have to start 

looking at the sub-systems that enable you 

to create that output. You have to reassess 

what are the risks that can impede each these 

subsystems, and walk through all aspects of 

your processes to identify those risks. Then 

you have to do a risk assessment and decide 

what the likelihood is to understand your 

vulnerabilities and threats. 

So if I am vulnerable, the question is 

how likely is that vulnerability going to be 

attacked? And if someone successfully does 

that, what will be the impact? For example, if 

the vulnerability factor is high in operations, 

one of the things you would do is carry out 

background checks on staff. 

The risk assessment has to be adapted 

to each infrastructure operator based on 

what he or she does and the associated risks. 

They have to decide which one of those risks 

they are willing to beat, and which ones 

they cannot accept. They have to apply some 

mitigations for the latter. 

Is there a need for cybersecurity 

standards specific to industries? 

When it comes to infrastructure industries, 

certain things are common. For example, 

in the utility business or even oil and gas, a 

fundamental aspect is output, which you have 

to deliver and processes that govern how you 

produce that output. You can then leverage 

systems to execute those processes. 

The differences creep in at the operations 

level. The oil and gas industry tends to have 

process-focussed automation and emphasises 

time criticality of systems. But in a power 

generation facility, you may not need that 

time criticality in your control systems. 

Therefore, you have to adapt the automation 

solutions to the plant’s operational 

requirements. 

Again, the commonality, when you 

leverage automation, is data. You have to 

“But a shift that is 

beginning to happen (and 

has to happen) is that 

security should be in the 

fabric of everything that 

an organisation does. A 

lot of business leaders 

are beginning to see that 

security - physical and 

cyber - is important to 

their bottom line” 

BENGA ERINLE 

worry about data because data informs us in 

making good decisions. Now that data resides 

in devices – PLCs, RTUs, PCs, Servers – that 

are connected to networks, and they in turn, 

are used by people. 

At the end of the day, regardless of the 

infrastructure segment, we all leverage 

the four things. Therefore, from a cyberperspective, 

you have to ensure that the risks 

to them are managed and minimised. You 

have to ensure that you protect your data, 

device, network and people and also make 

sure you defend them if the protection fails 

across those four dimensions. You need a 

monitoring layer where you are watching and 

ensuring you know what is going on. I think 

the body of work is evolving 

From a top management standpoint, 

what can be done to ensure that in 

infrastructure industries, security gets 

the importance and attention it deserves? 

Operators have always looked at security as a 

function in their organisation. They created 

a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) 

function to look after security which meant 

that the operations team didn’t have to worry 

about security. 

But a shift that is beginning to happen (and 

has to happen) is that security should be in 

the fabric of everything that an organisation 

does. A lot of business leaders are beginning 

to see that security - physical and cyber - 

is important to their bottom line. If your 

physical security is compromised and some 

asset critical to operations gets stolen, you 

can get shut down. 

The classic example is Aramco where 

30,000 computers had to be closed down in 

the course of a week. They had to be rebuilt, 

which was very costly. 

Security has to be looked at as something 

that is an essential aspect of everything we do 

rather than as a cost. 

I feel that in any organisation, the 

responsibility for security resides with the 

CEO. He or she handles that business and 

owns the risk. And security is all about risk. 

As a chief executive, if you understand your 

responsibility to your stakeholders, you also 

have to understand the critical elements that 

underlie the ability to deliver the services you 

do. You have to make sure you have staff that 

is focussing effectively on managing the risks 

to those aspects. 

The key is not to delegate the risk and 

accountability down to staff. Board level 

officers own the risk, and they need to make 

sure that the risk assessments are done well. 

A lot of people in critical infrastructure 

industries are starting to understand the 

need for risk assessment, which informs 

your decisions about security. The problem, 

though, is we are still spending a lot of 

time tasking the wrong resources to risk 

assessment. 

If you are unwell, you don’t go to your 

children to assess your illness. If you are 

seriously ill, you don’t trust your health to 

a doctor fresh off the university or a junior 

doctor. You will always go to an experienced 

doctor for a check-up. The same approach 

applies to risk assessment. You have to 

make sure you get the right, skilled and 

credentialed consultant to do a thorough 

risk assessment, which looks at every major 

element that contributes to the output of your 

business. 


ADVERTORIAL 

TRANSPORT 

Dubai to become the 

smartest city in the world 

Dubai to host Smart Grids and Smart Meters Summit 2015 

with support from DEWA, SEWA, ADWEA and FEWA 

Smart Grids and 

Smart Meters 

5 TH 

Summit, being 

held between 28- 

29 October 2015 

at the Madinat 

Jumeirah in Dubai, 

is a unique conference-led exhibition, 

bringing together the MENA region’s 

smart grid and energy authorities. The 

confex will turn its attention towards 

implementation of smart grids to 

enhance the use of energy efficient 

and renewable technologies, M2M 

technology, renewable sources and 

sustainable technology-led solutions. 

The event will support the integrated 

and coordinated strategies needed to 

meet the energy sufficiency objectives. 

“A range of new demand-side technologies 

and strategies is currently being explored by 

a multi-entity taskforce, involving Masdar 

Institute and coordinated by the Executive 

Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi. As part of a 

broad programme, this includes initiatives 

such as the modelling and simulation 

of energy use in buildings and cities, to 

developing an optimal control strategy for 

district cooling plants and looking at demand 

response and adaptive energy generation for 

smart grids,” said Dr Nawal Al-Hosany, 

Director of Sustainability in Masdar, a 

keynote speaker of the Smart Grids and 

Smart Meters conference. 

“With smart grids expected to play 

such an important role in unlocking both 

demand side response and options for energy 

management, it is encouraging to see Dubai 

leading the way in terms of their actual 

roll-out. A total of one million smart meters 

are to be installed in apartments and villas 

across the emirate over the next five years by 

the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority 

(DEWA), with an impressive 100,000 already 

in place,” added Al-Hosany. 

DEWA has introduced three initiatives 

to support the vision of HH Sheikh 

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 

Vice President and Prime Minister of the 

UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for Dubai to become 

the smartest city in the world. These three 

initiatives will bring greater utility and 

awareness to Dubai’s citizens and residents. 

The first initiative will support installing 

solar panels to generate own electricity. 

The second inititaive is to transform the 

existing electricity and water meters 

into smart meters to better control their 

consumption. The third initiative will see 

the construction of vehicle charging stations 

for electric vehicles to provide the required 

infrastructure to encourage the use of nonpolluting 

vehicles in Dubai. 

Apart from the UAE, the Summit will 

also examine Egypt’s and Qatar’s strategies. 

During an interview with the Summit 

organisers, Fleming Gulf Exhibitions, Sabah 

Mashaly from the Ministry of Electricity 

and Renewable Energy in Egypt talked 

about Egypt’s huge potential for solar, 

water and wind energy generation: “The 

Egyptian electric power system is almost 

entirely integrated, with thermal stations 

in Cairo and Alexandria and generators at 

Aswan. Solar availability rises with installed 

photovoltaic systems. They are used in remote 

areas for water pumping, desalination, rural 

clinics, telecommunications, rural village 

electrification, etc. Egypt has also a high 

potential for wind energy, especially in the Red 

Sea coast area. In 2009 430MW of wind power 

were installed, with a target to reach 7200MW 

by 2020 (12% of national electric capacity 

installed and contributing to the 20% renewable 

electricity target by 2020).“ 

Mohamed Nagib Omara from 

the Qatar General Electricity & Water 

Corporation (Kahramaa) will be talking 

about energy efficiency and conservation 

with smart grid implementation: “We 

plan to construct a new distribution control 

center to meet the great expansion of 

distribution network. Development and 

expansion of transmission network projects 

in Qatar draw the attention of major 

international companies. KAHRAMAA 

projects are among the largest electricity 

projects in the world.” 

The conference-led exhibition which is 

being fully supported by the UAE Minister 

of Energy HE Eng. Suhail Mohamed 

Faraj Al Mazrouei. It will gather key 

decision makers involved in major utility 

infrastructure projects in the UAE, Saudi 

Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, 

Kuwait, Lebanon and Egypt. 

A number of high ranking government 

officials and representatives from around 

the region have been invited to speak at the 

event, including Marco Christiaan Janssen 

as an active director of DEWA; Scott 

Minos, Senior Policy & Communications 

Specialist from the US Department of 

Energy; Sabah Mashaly, Undersecretary 

For Developing Performance And Political 

Communication at Ministry of Electricity 

& Renewable Energy; Mohamed Nagib 

Omara, Technical Advisor to the President, 

KAHRAMAA. 

Running alongside the conference is an 

exhibition accommodating more than 30 

exhibiting companies that is divided into 

four themed zones: Smart Grids, Power, 

Water and Waste Solutions. The exhibition 

is likely to attract in excess of 1,000 trade 

visitors. The exhibition has already got key 

support from the SASIA, EGBC, CEBC 

and OSGP. 

WIPRO, NEEDS, PETRA, SENSUS 

are the Gold Sponsors of the Summit, while 

CESI and G3-PLC Alliance are the Silver 

Sponsors and Baer is the Bronze Sponsor. 

Position of the Associated Sponsor is 

held by ANSES, SEWA is on board as the 

event’s Government Partner. 

For more information, please visit 

www.smartgrids-expo.com 

June 2015 INFRASTRUCTURE MIDDLE EAST 39

SMART CITIES 

COMMUNICATIONS 

n the first half of this 

year, you announced 

I 

a partnership with 

Landis + Gyr for Smart 

Metering and Smart 

Grid projects in the 

Middle East. Is this an 

open arrangement or a binding one? 

We provide the communications stack to 

smart meter deployments. We also work with 

Landis + Gyr in markets outside of the Middle 

East. In some cases, they prefer to go with us 

while in others, they may go with someone 

else but it all boils down to what the client 

wants. Our partnership pact for the Middle 

East sends out a clear signal to the market. 

Landis + Gyr is the best of breed in terms 

of smart meters while Ericsson is the best of 

breed when it comes to communication and 

analytics. Together, we offer a great value 

proposition. 

Of course, certain customers may prefer 

to work with one of us at the exclusion of the 

other. But really, what we try do with Landis 

+ Gyr through this partnership is to achieve 

Rutger Reman 

Utility partner 

Rutger Reman, Head of Industry & Society of Ericsson 

in the Middle East speaks to Infrastructure Middle East 

about his company’s entry into the region’s smart solutions 

market for utilities 

more pre-integration so that once we come 

into the project, implementation happens at a 

quicker pace. 

What is your go to market strategy? Do 

you approach utilities directly? 

Ericsson has three ways of addressing the 

market – of course; the biggest chunk is what 

we sell directly to operators like Etisalat 

and Du. We also go to the utility companies. 

Often, when people who have worked with us 

or one of our customers join the utility sector, 

they often prefer to deal with us since they 

know what we can do. We also work through 

indirect channels, through small to medium 

size specialist system integrators who work 

with smaller customers. Outside these three 

approaches, we also talk directly to utilities to 

understand their business logic. To learn how 

to make our solution a better fit, we do have 

direct engagements with the customers. 

How can smart meter and grid data also 

benefit the end-users? 

For example, Italy is now introducing smart 

meters for gas. What they have started to 

realise is that during high seasons, like 

Christmas, a lot of people are cooking at 

home, so you see a spike. Similar to the 

electric grid, you would like to have even 

distribution. Also, if you need to have more 

gas, you would prefer to plan well ahead. For 

example, you may want to buy futures for 

1, 2 or 3 years since you have a have better 

understanding of the use. 

The data from smart meters or grids can 

be used for operational improvements and 

maintenance. However, utilities can also use 

this data to empower the end users and enable 

them to understand their utility bills and usage 

patterns, identify the reasons for the spikes that 

contribute to high utility bills and address that. 

On the analytics front, we have adapted 

analytic software tools we developed for the 

telecom operators for the utility industry. 

When we started talking to the utility 

companies, they expressed the need for 

similar solutions. We carried out tweaks 

on the base platform to adapt it to needs of 

the customer, be it a utility or a transport 

authority. 

In a smart city, a robust communication 

backbone is key to seamless exchange 

of data between different applications. 

Companies like Cisco are helping Dubai 

with its smart city initiatives. Where 

does Ericsson stand in this regard? 

Regarding our involvement with smart cities, 

I would like to give the example of the work 

we have done in the Stockholm Royal Seaport 

project, which aims to redevelop an old 

port area into a smart residential and office 

community. But our work with them is not 

confined to providing the communication 

backbone. We have also been working on 

aspects, like using communication to reduce 

CO2 emissions. Thus, by embedding sensors 

in bins that give data on whether the bins are 

full or partially full, it is possible to plan and 

optimise the trips of the collection trucks and 

reduce CO2 emissions in these areas. 

There are other areas where we can come 

in, like road and transport security. Through 

cameras and sensors on the roads, it is 

possible to measure traffic levels. If there is 

accident, you can talk to everyone whether 

they are using public transport or cars and 

inform them to avoid the accident area. In 

fact, there is a whole raft of things that we can 

provide to cities. 


SMART CITIES 

DISRUPTIVE DIRECTIONS 

Sensors to the fore 

Dr Azeez Mohammed, President and CEO, Power 

Generations Services, Middle East and Africa, GE Power and 

Water speaks to Infrastructure Middle East about the impact 

of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in power generation 

he future of the utility 

industry is analytics,” 

“T 

states Dr Azeez 

Mohammed, President 

and CEO, Power 

Generations Services, 

Middle East and Africa, 

GE Power and Water. “It is something that 

utilities, consumers and OEMs like us should 

embrace if we are not to be left behind.” 

Azeez should know as he is responsible 

for developing and delivering a regional 

services strategy that offers electric utility 

customers of over 30 countries in the region, 

the technology, knowledge and insight they 

need to manage the entire lifecycle of their 

power plants. 

He continues: “In Pakistan, we have a 

customer called Sapphire Electric Company. 

Fuel is extremely expensive for them. Using 

the data obtained by putting sensors in 

their existing equipment for optimising 

it to changing weather patterns and load 

behaviour on a real-time basis, we were able 

to give them 4% more efficiency.” 

Azeez points out that the concept is 

not new; it’s just that the power industry’s 

conservative nature has stood in the way 

of it being adopted in a big way though the 

situation is starting to change. 

“Who would say no to a 4% improvement? 

It is a dramatic gain.” 

He compares the disruption arising from 

the penetration of Industrial Internet of 

Things (IIoT) and analytics by Uber in the 

transportation industry. Uber started off by 

saying they are going to be a taxi service in 

San Francisco; now they are moving things 

and people in the whole world. 

Azeez continues: “All that happened in 

a period of a few years. Therefore, it is not 

farfetched to imagine that software and 

analytics will disrupt the industrial world.” 

The million dollar opportunity arises 

from the fact that an ERP-equivalent is 

sorely lacking when it comes to asset-heavy 

industries. Existing systems, claims Azeez, 

are isolated to particular aspects of the 

asset. “We don’t have something that pulls 

every activity of an asset of a company into a 

platform akin to an ERP system. 

Power plants are designed and set to 

operate with a unique setting, which is 

assumed to be the average setting. GE is 

now emphasising that the setting needs to 

change to match the ambient conditions 

automatically without human intervention. 

“Software allows you to do that on a realtime 

basis, which would otherwise require a 

thousand or more people to do,” claims Azeez. 

“Moreover, data and analytics are agnostic 

to the type of fuel or generation. They are 

primarily about looking at ways to make 

operations efficient and better.” 

GE has calculated that to perform 

manually what Sapphire Electric Company is 

currently doing, at least 2,000 people would 

be needed. The Pakistani power generation 

Dr Azeez Mohammed 

company is using Asset Performance 

Management (APM) application, a GE 

product, built on the Predix platform, another 

GE product. 

The GE executive explains: “Think of iOS 

as your Predix and APM as the apps you have. 

They link to the various assets out there and 

get you the information that want the way you 

want while empowering you to make smart 

decisions. It will analyse what is happening 

and tell you how to make it better.” 

Despite the benefits that analytics brings 

to operations, many customers still tend to be 

sceptic about its efficacy. 

Azeez continues: “They think the 

benefits are too good to be true. They are 

also worried about connecting their critical 

equipment to the cloud because of the fear 

of cyber- attacks. However, these technical 

challenges can be surmounted. We also tell 

them that knowledge sharing with the right 

confidentiality and anonymity doesn’t mean 

an attack on intellectual property. All we need 

is willingness and openness on the part of the 

industry. I wouldn’t say that there are zero 

risks, but the risks aren’t greater than where 

things stand today. So, are you going to leave 

millions or billions on the table due to fear of 

cyberattacks?” 

GE is putting money where mouth is, 

investing a billion dollars in a Silicon Valley 

research centre where the company has 

employed over 2000 engineers to help it 

develop software that will help industries 

squeeze ever-higher efficiencies from their 

operations. 

Azeez says: “Our Chairman Jeff Immelt 

made a comment: you go to sleep as a 

hardware company, and you wake up as 

a software company. Hardware will not 

disappear, but they will be suboptimal 

without the presence of the software, the 

analytics and the intelligence.” 

Closer home, in Dubai, GE recently opened 

the region’s first-of-its-kind Monitoring 

and Diagnostic Centre that leverages the 

company’s IIoT technologies to enable 

its partners to operate their power plants 

efficiently and profitably. 

According to Azeez, with GE supporting 

nearly two-thirds of the power generated 

in the Middle East region, opening the 

Centre here in Dubai also underlines our 

commitment to the region to be closer to 

our partners and provide them real-time 

support. 


SMART CITIES 

But honestly, I would think that the 

bulk majority of the infrastructure and the 

technology that exists today is going to be the 

platform for us to deploy those smart services. 

And where it is not up to the grade of reliability, 

redundancy, security - specific requirements 

that we have set - only then it would be replaced. 

GLOBAL TREND 

ow would you describe 

Cisco’s engagement 

W 

with the Smart Dubai 

project? 

The way we have 

positioned ourselves, we 

will consult and advise 

whoever is contributing to this initiative, 

help deploy our products and technologies 

and support and service them. Then we will 

go through the iterations of an upgrade or 

refresh and introduction of new technologies 

and services. We will use this strategy as the 

foundation of our engagement. There is work 

happening with different departments like 

the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), 

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority 

(DEWA), Dubai Design District (d3), and 

Dubai Smart Government (DSG). 

However, Smart City is not just about the 

technology; it is also about the processes, the flow 

of things. It is about the fact that as you engage 

with different departments in Dubai, you want 

the handover of interactions to be seamless. 

The automation that takes place is not 

necessarily about technology. It is also about 

new ideas and innovation that you put in 

Rabih Dabbousi 

Close engagement 

Rabih Dabboussi, General Manager, Cisco UAE speaks 

to Infrastructure Middle East on how Dubai is on the fast 

track to a smart future 

place, and about the automation of activities 

that may happen one first step at a time today 

but will become a seamless flow in the future. 

Ultimately, whether you are a visitor or a 

resident of Dubai, your life will be smoother, 

everything takes place on time. The future 

of Dubai is a life, which has no risk – no car 

accidents, no traffic jams. All services can 

be accessed through a smart app on your 

smart device. It is about Dubai having the 

latest intelligent healthcare system, the most 

advanced education system. All these are 

possible through technology. 

It is these things and transformations that are 

going to drive tremendous outcomes and make 

the overall quality of life in Dubai significantly 

better than anywhere else in the world. 

Does this mean scrapping existing 

systems? Won’t this lead to disruption? 

People think that existing technologies need 

to be scrapped and replaced, but that is not 

the case. When it comes to legacy technology, 

I would say a portion of that would need to be 

refreshed and upgraded because it might be a 

hindrance to deploying smart solutions and 

services. 

How can we make sure that the Return on 

Investments (RoI) don’t disappoint? 

If you look around the world, there are use 

cases, and there are specific solutions to 

specific problems in specific zones. Things 

move quicker in Dubai. Three years ago, when 

you went to the large malls in Dubai, they 

only had basic parking. Today, the RTA offers 

smart parking as do some of the larger malls. 

Thus, you see now wider adoption. 

We have pilots with DEWA, Dubai 

Municipality, Dubai Police, Department of 

Economic Development (DED) but Dubai will 

exit out of this pilot or proof-of-concept mode 

much faster than any other place in the world, 

just like it did with the Metro. 

The reason Dubai is called Dubai Inc. 

is that it is an incorporation of multiple 

departments that are run kind of separately. 

This is what is helping Dubai be more agile, 

fast and deliver results. We are engaging each 

of those departments directly. 

I think we need to be more positive 

about what we are doing in Dubai. We need 

to teach other cities how we are going to 

do it, and I have no doubt that with hard 

work, dedication, commitment and a strong 

leadership and vision, we will achieve that. 

Nonetheless, we have to remind ourselves 

that to achieve a smarter life for everybody; 

the approach has to be holistic. It can’t be 

restricted to certain areas or parts of Dubai or 

individual services. 

How do you see the Smart Dubai project 

inspiring the region? 

Smart City is a global trend now. I believe that 

every country and every city has some form of 

digitisation strategy. The level of advancement 

of the implementation of the strategy differs 

from place to place, but it is a global trend, it 

is a GCC trend. In fact, all the GCC countries 

have digitisation plans in place. 

The actual culture of Dubai is execution, 

delivery, next stage, next project – the emirate 

continues to set the pace. I fell in love with 

Dubai in 2008, and I continue to be in love 

with the city. 


Collocated with: 

 

Supported by: 

H.E. Eng. Suhail Mohamed FarajAl Mazrouei 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grid PMO 

 

 

 

 

 

For Developing 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regulatory Affairs 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gold Sponsors: 

Silver Sponsors: 

Bronze Sponsor: 

Government Partner: 

Organised by: 

 

 

Regional Media Partner:

SPOTLIGHT 

The HFL failsafe lock ring cylinder pistons being machined in the SL603 CNC Lathe 

HYDRAULIC TOOLS 

High growth 

Thanks to a fully integrated in-house manufacturing 

capability, Hi-Force has managed to exceed customer 

expectations on prestigious projects like the Riyadh Metro 

riginally introduced to 

the market in the late 

O 

1980s, the Hi-Force 

brand enjoyed two 

decades of moderate 

success before a 

management buyout 

and restructure in the early 2000s resulted 

in the Brown family taking control of the 

business in 2006. 

Group Managing Director Kevin Brown 

says: “It was at this point in the company’s 

history that I relocated back to the UK as 

Group Managing Director, following a highly 

successful 14-year stint of setting up and 

managing Hi-Force’s Middle East operations 

in Dubai, UAE.” 

Since then, the company has witnessed 

ongoing success and prosperity, with almost 

190% growth and a tripled workforce since 

2009. Key to this incredible growth is 

Hi-Force’s strategic decision to progress into 

in-house manufacturing, which ended its 

dependency on sub-contractors. 

“This is a very proud 

achievement for our 

business and our 

employees; we could 

never have met our 

customers’ demanding 

delivery schedule 

without having our 

in-house manufacturing 

capability” 

KEVIN BROWN, GROUP MANAGING 

DIRECTOR, HI-FORCE, COMMENTING 

ON THE SUCCESSFUL EXECUTION OF A $2M 

ORDER FOR THE RIYADH METRO PROJECT 

In line with this decision, Hi-Force 

relocated to a brand new, state-of-the-art 

facility, in 2010, which is in proximity to its 

earlier, much smaller, facilities in Daventry, 

UK. The new site, at over three times the size 

of the previous facility, has enabled the firm 

to combine all manufacturing and production 

facilities under one roof, alongside its sales, 

marketing, assembly, training, logistics and 

administration departments. 

“We manufacture our products from 

within our headquarters and manufacturing 

facilities in Daventry, where you can see the 

complete manufacturing process, from raw 

material being delivered by our steel and 

aluminium stockholders, to finished, boxed 

product being shipped out,” explains Brown. 

“Having everything on a single site which 

spans over 120,000 square feet, creates huge 

efficiency gains for the business, plus allows 

our customers to see first-hand exactly how 

the tools are manufactured, assembled, 

tested and certified, finished, packed and 

dispatched.” 

“To further support our business and our 

customers, 80% of whom are outside of the 

UK, we have established Regional Offices 

and Distribution Centres in Europe, Middle 

East, Far East and Africa, with plans in place 

to open a Regional Office in the Americas in 

2016. 

“We also receive fantastic support from 

over 100 strategically placed, authorised and 

appointed distributors, in over 80 countries, 

which provide the key link between Hi-Force 

and end users of our products.” 

Used in a broad range of industries, 

including oil and gas, refinery and 

petrochemical, power generation, mining, 

railways, construction, steel and aluminium 

plants, aerospace, shipbuilding and ship 

repair, as well as sugar and paper mills, Hi- 

Force’s hydraulic tools can be relied upon 

to deliver optimum quality to the most 

challenging or hazardous of projects. Key to 

this reliability is the company’s commitment 

to research and development, which also 

ensures Hi-Force remains at the forefront of 

high pressure, hydraulic tool technology. 

Brown says: “In the last two years we have 

invested in expanding our technical design 

and engineering team. We now have five 

full-time design engineers compared to just 

two at the beginning of 2014, all dedicated to 

improving product designs and introducing 

innovative new products to our global 


SPOTLIGHT 

customer market. We also use the very latest 

design software and currently have several 

new products in the pipeline that are due for 

launch in the coming months.” 

As increasingly demanding customers 

call for higher quality products, Hi-Force has 

made massive investments in machinery to 

ensure customer needs are met or exceeded. 

In 2014, Hi-Force spent over $1.57m 

on three new DMG Mori CNC machines. 

In 2015 to date, over $471,033 has been 

spent on four Haas CNC machines 

and associated equipment. In fact, the 

purchase of a huge new DMG Mori SL603 

lathe machine last year opened the door for 

competitive manufacturing of component 

Machining second operation of the cylinder lock ring 

parts for large capacity and special design 

cylinders, which were previously being 

subcontracted. 

Kevin says, “For very large machined 

parts, we needed to achieve much shorter 

delivery times and cost reductions. 

Subcontracting is and will remain an 

integral part of our manufacturing supply 

chain but the type of equipment necessary 

to economically and quickly machine these 

large cylinder components was not always 

available, resulting in high manufacturing 

cost and long lead times.” 

The decision to invest has proved to be 

a wise one, as in the 14 months since its 

installation, Hi-Force has seen a surge in 

orders for large cylinders, most notably a $2m 

order for 146, 500 tonnes cylinders and 26, 

1,000 tonnes cylinders for the Riyadh Metro 

Project in Saudi Arabia. 

The design of these cylinders required the 

SL603 to remove large amounts of material, 

quickly and accurately, starting with a solid 

steel billet weighing 1,400 kg, that required 

the machining of a ‘blind hole’ bore in the 

centre of the billet. The finished and fully 

machined cylinder body weighed only 800 

kg, and this major machining operation to 

remove approximately 600 kg of material 

took less than 4.5 hours per piece. 

To complete the manufacturing cell for 

these large cylinders, Hi-Force also invested 

in a Delapena cylinder bore honing machine, 

which can hone bores up to 600mm diameter. 

The Delapena machine is located right next to 

the SL603 so that the machined parts can be 

craned straight into it. 

The order, from receipt to dispatch, was 

completed in less than 14 weeks and five 

40 feet containers full of hydraulic jacking 

equipment were shipped to Saudi Arabia. 

“This is a very proud achievement for our 

business and our employees; we could never 

have met our customers’ demanding delivery 

schedule, without having our in-house 

manufacturing capability,” says Brown. 

Hi-Force boasts a broad range of single and 

double acting hydraulic cylinders comprising 

low height pad cylinders, multi-purpose 

cylinders, hollow piston cylinders, high 

tonnage cylinders, failsafe lock ring cylinders 

and lightweight aluminium cylinders. 

Standard cylinder capacities range from 

4.5 to 1012 tonnes with stroke lengths up to 

457mm; however, with the CNC SL603 Lathe, 

Hi-Force is able to extend the range of sizes in 

its cylinder catalogue and also offer a special 

cylinder design and manufacturing service 

whilst ensuring delivery times of as little as 

four weeks for large and special cylinders for 

its customers located in over 100 different 

countries. 

The investment in world-class 

manufacturing facilities and state-of-theart 

technology has resulted in Hi-Force 

growing from being a small tools supplier 

to an innovative and market leading 

manufacturing business. 

With quality thus assured in the brand, 

Hi-Force is certainly a company that can be 

trusted with current and future hydraulic 

needs. 


COVER STORY 

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 

No full stops 

Eng Anwaar Al Shimmari, the Director of the Projects Planning Department at the 

UAE Ministry of Public Works, speaks with Fatima de la Cerna of Climate Control 

Middle East about the UAE National Vision 2021 and the Ministry’s retrofitting 

programme, among other topics. Excerpts... 

hen we spoke at the 8 th 

edition of The Climate 

W 

Control Conference 

(15-16 June 2015), 

you mentioned the 

Ministry of Public 

Works has started 

a programme to promote the concept of 

sustainability within the Ministry itself. 

It is a part of the programme, called 

Ruwad, isn’t it? 

Yes, the Ministry has introduced Ruwad. It’s 

a programme for project managers, or senior 

engineers currently holding projects, to 

encourage them to specialise in a field required 

in the Ministry, in the country or in the region. 

One of those specialties is sustainability. 

We have project managers, who recently 

graduated from this programme. They 

received their certificate on sustainability, 

which adds to their qualifications. The 

programme also supports the Ministry’s 

mission of ensuring that sustainability, which 

is part of the UAE National Vision 2021, is 

incorporated into all our projects in the future. 

And to achieve that mission, we are educating 

our engineers and creating awareness 

among them to ensure that they will support 

sustainability through their projects. 

Sustainability is broader and much deeper 

than what we expect. The more time passes, 

the more complicated it gets. It’s not only 

about the economy and the climate. It also has 

another dimension, which is related to culture, 

because our culture can either inspire or derail 

sustainability. 

Can you elaborate on that? What do you 

mean by culture affecting sustainability? 

We have been, and still are, raised based on 

the concept of welfare, and this gives us the 

impression that everything is okay; that we can 

use and have whatever we want, whenever we 

want. 

“Even if there are 

subsidies or government 

support, we as a people 

should not wait for 

the time when the 

government will be 

forced to take action, like 

removing subsidies, for 

us to become aware and 

start saving energy” 

ENG ANWAAR AL SHIMMARI 

Are you talking about subsidies? 

Not only about subsidies. I’m talking about 

our consumption of electricity and water, 

of green materials, because the market, 

so far, is affordable, especially compared 

to other countries that have an issue with 

sustainability and carbon footprint. So, people 

have this kind of welfare attitude and seem to 

have the impression that they can go ahead and 

do whatever they want. 

Even if there are subsidies or government 

support, we as a people should not wait 

for the time when the government will 

be forced to take action, like removing 

subsidies, for us to become aware and start 

saving energy. It is this kind of awareness 

that we as government hope to achieve by 

making sure that people are educated. 

Sustainability has several pillars. 

Everyone talks about green, energy and 

materials, but there are elements that 

are hidden or have an indirect impact. 

For example, culture as I’ve mentioned. 

Another is ensuring that existing buildings 

are being taken care of, and that’s why 

the UAE government, particularly the 

Ministry of Public Works, is working with 

the Emirates Green Building Council and 

the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy to 

develop technical guidelines for retrofitting. 

Actually, we already have the first version of 

the guidelines. We recently launched it, and 

we will see how it goes from there. 

What kind of milestone map do you 

have for the retrofitting project? What 

targets have you set? 

I can’t go into details right now, but I can 

say that things will evolve in the next few 

months. There will definitely be a closer 

engagement between the Ministry and the 

Emirates Green Building Council. The plan 

is to train engineers from the Ministry 

through the Council, to make them ready for 

the retrofitting guidelines. There definitely 

will be a roadmap for this. 

The Emirates Green Building Council 

is relatively new compared to other 

international green schemes. I think that 

for its efforts to be better recognised and 

appreciated there must be collaboration 

with the different entities in the UAE, and 

not only in the federal level but also with the 

local governments. 


COVER STORY 

You also mentioned at The Climate Control 

Conference that though you admire Abu 

Dhabi’s Pearl Rating System, you feel 

the country would benefit more if all 

the standards and rating systems were 

brought under one umbrella. Could you 

please elaborate? 

This is my personal opinion and not intended 

to represent the views of the Ministry... 

I think that with the UAE being a small 

country, in terms of size and not achievement, 

having standards under one umbrella or 

classification would be advantageous and 

would help in achieving international 

recognition. Systems like LEED and Pearl, 

for instance, are similar in the sense that they 

allow the classification of buildings. 

I am, of course, aware that there are 

existing differences. For example, some 

emirates use British standards, while others 

use American [standards]. But if the emirates 

were to collaborate, a unified set of standards 

could be created based on those two. And since 

we already have existing infrastructure, we 

can just mention or highlight which standards 

were used. At the end, they’re two sides 

belonging to the same coin. The same thing 

can be said about rating systems. It would be 

very interesting if rating systems were unified. 

I remember I was one of those who tried to 

establish the Architectural Association of the 

UAE. We spent time on meetings and all, but 

in the end it became clear to us that the UAE 

Engineering Society was better suited to take 

the lead on what we wanted to do, so we decided 

against the planned architectural association. 

I totally respected this, because having one 

umbrella or having a unified approach gives 

people clarity and lets them know the proper 

channels to reach. Having several channels 

could make them lose their way. 

Speaking of the different emirates, one 

of the big topics discussed at The Climate 

Control Conference was District Cooling, 

which the Dubai Supreme Council of 

Energy has identified as one of the 

strategies for reducing power consumption 

in the emirate by 30% by 2030. Northern 

emirates, like Sharjah, don’t have District 

Cooling, though, and are primarily relying 

on split and window ACs. Are there plans 

of establishing District Cooling in those 

parts of the UAE? 

SEWA would be able to discuss this better 

than me. But as an urban and infrastructure 

planner, and as someone who has worked on 

projects in all the emirates of the UAE, I can 

say that we have to respect how hard it can 

be to establish an infrastructure network of 

something new within an existing crowded 

urban fabric. District Cooling would work well 

in high-density areas, but those areas have zero 

available infrastructure corridors to provide or 

introduce something new like District Cooling. 

And it would involve a big cost. 

Can we do it? There’s no way to say that 

it’s impossible. Possible is the language here 

in the UAE, but there will definitely be major 

cost implications. Maybe, SEWA has plans 

to introduce District Cooling once it has 

established a full-fledged electrical network, 

as there were some previous struggles with 

electricity in the past. 

“I personally think PPP 

is a great concept, but 

I have to highlight that 

the UAE government will 

definitely not allow any 

harm to come to the endusers, 

to the citizens” 

ENG ANWAAR AL SHIMMARI 

Whatever SEWA’s plans are, though, it’s 

important we ask ourselves: Did District Cooling 

work well and achieve the goals in Abu Dhabi 

and Dubai? We have to consider previous cases 

to determine if something will be successful 

or if it will produce negative consequences. 

I’m not saying that District Cooling is not a 

successful story; but as far as I could tell from 

my previous experience in the private sector, it 

has implications on the end-users, in terms of 

the fees they need to pay and the efficiency of the 

system. And so, we have to consider the whole 

story and do a cost-benefit analysis. 

What is your opinion on public-private 

partnerships (PPPs)? Is it something that 

the Ministry is, or may consider, looking 

into? 

As I always say, we don’t reinvent the wheel. 

We always learn from case studies, and there 

are many stories of successful PPPs worldwide. 

Still, we need to be aware of all the details, to be 

fully educated about PPPs and, if we do decide 

on going ahead with a PPP project, we must see 

to it that the contract paints a win-win situation, 

which no side will be disadvantaged by it. 

PPPs have worked in projects involving 

housing, energy and roads, among others. 

And in many cases, PPP has worked either 

as a preventive system – that is, to avoid the 

situation of having governments pull out of 

financing projects – or as a form of support, 

because it wasn’t feasible for governments to 

finance the projects themselves. 

Part of the welfare plans of the UAE is to 

go ahead with letting the government finance 

projects on its own. There is, of course, a 

possibility that PPP will be introduced, but it 

will most likely be done in a small scale, so it 

can be studied. We cannot just bring a system 

from other countries and implement it here. 

There are different factors to consider: the 

targeted segment is different, and people’s 

reactions will be different. 

But, yes, PPP is something that we already 

considered. And we are expanding this to 

study it further and see about doing a pilot 

project, and if it works and if the market 

is ready... I personally think PPP is a great 

concept, but I have to highlight that the UAE 

government will definitely not allow any 

harm to come to the end-users, to the citizens. 

Earlier, you talked about culture and 

the UAE National Vision 2021. In your 

opinion, how does having an expatriateheavy 

population affect the achievement 

of the National Vision? 

I just see everything in harmony, because 

in the end, everyone – expatriates and 

locals alike – benefit from the country and 

the country benefits from them. If we put 

together all our efforts, if we collaborate with 

one another, we will reach a better place and 

the country will achieve even more success. 

The UAE is one of the safest and most 

secure countries in the region, which makes 

people really keen on being and staying here. 

I’m really happy with the kind of mature 

and harmonious relationship the different 

nationalities in the UAE have with one 

another. It’s what makes this a really peaceful 

place. And I feel gratified whenever I travel 

abroad, and I hear from people that they are 

happy to meet someone from the UAE, because 

we are kind and collaborative. Small things 

like being friendly and saying “hi” or being 

generous with a smile can elevate the UAE. 

I don’t want to segregate non-locals from 

locals, because in the end, we all play a part in 

shaping the identity of the UAE. 


CONSTRUCTION 

CONSTRUCTION 

Power Failure 

Facilities managers need information, lots of it, and they 

often get more than they can cope with. 

“For those that can 

implement BIM, the 

potential is considerable. 

BIM can support a range 

of FM activities including 

generating material takeoffs, 

cost estimating, lifecycle 

costing analyses, 

space management, 

asset management, 

energy analysis, security, 

sustainability, compliance 

and change management 

to name a few” 

onsider the amount 

of data that comes 

C 

streaming in every 

day. All this data is 

fairly meaningless 

in isolation but once 

processed and turned 

into information it can be priceless if, as is 

often stated, information is the lifeblood of an 

organisation. We have business information 

that can give competitive advantage, we have 

client information, facility and development 

information and, at the government level, 

much, much more. 

But how do we collect it and store it? How 

do we manipulate and access it, safe in the 

knowledge that the integrity of the underlying 

data is assured? 

We often turn to software applications to 

support us. Within the regional FM industry 

computer-aided facilities management (CAFM) 

is a common term. CAFM systems allow us 

to manage assets efficiently and effectively if 

we understand how to use the software, our 

operators are adequately trained and we have 

processes and business rules defined. 

Sometimes though, asset owners seem 

to try to outdo not only their neighbours, 

but also themselves. One government 

organisation has procured a CAFM 

system but uses it only to handle planned, 

preventative maintenance tasks. The 

organisation uses a different application 

to handle reactive work requests and yet 

another application at the enterprise resource 

planning level. All these applications are 

produced by different vendors. Overkill? 

Maybe, but just consider the training, systems 

integration, maintenance and licensing 

burden that the organisation carries. Buying 

any software can be expensive but compared 

to the ongoing associated costs the purchase 

price can be relatively small. 

It doesn’t really matter whether we buy 

one software application or many if we 

remain blissfully unaware of what we should 

load into them. 

It’s often said that information is power. 

That being the case, it would seem that many 

asset owners are experiencing power failure 

when it comes to managing their assets. The 

first obstacle is, of course, finding out just 

what assets they have. 

There are countless examples of owners 

issuing requests for proposal for asset capture 

activities. From this we can safely infer that these 

owners have no accurate record of what it is they 

own, or they would not need to go to the expense 

of paying someone to find out. It’s interesting 

that governments can spend millions on buying 

or developing something but they don’t know 

exactly what it is that they’ve bought. 

Of course there are as-built drawings to 

which we can refer but these seldom accurately 

reflect the actual installation. A recent 

validation exercise on a new high-end facility 

revealed significant discrepancies between 

what was on paper and what was installed. 

Owners with large portfolios, such as 

governments, now have the opportunity 

to improve this situation through the use 

of Building Information Modelling (BIM). 

Unfortunately press reports inform us that we 

simply do not have enough experienced BIM 

practitioners in this region to support the 

need. BIM therefore presents opportunities 

to asset owners, facilities management as an 

industry and facilities managers who wish to 

continue their professional development and 

leave the crowds behind. 

For those that can implement BIM, the 

potential is considerable. BIM can support a 

range of FM activities including generating 

material take-offs, cost estimating, life-cycle 

costing analyses, space management, asset 

management, energy analysis, security, 

sustainability, compliance and change 

management to name a few. 


Brought to you by 

KONE MIDDLE EAST LLC 

TEL: +971 4 279 4500 

WWW.KONE.AE 

CONSTRUCTION 

We should not forget that the use of BIM is 

not restricted to new buildings. Models can be 

generated for existing buildings too. 

The potential benefits of BIM to a facility 

manager are clear but this does not mean that 

BIM is some form of silver bullet, it isn’t. Indeed 

implementation of BIM can also introduce 

more challenges for an FM organisation. As 

with other applications we need to consider 

availability and development of the required 

skills, ongoing training, employee retention, 

model update and maintenance. 

As facility managers operate the buildings 

over the years systems will change, assets will 

be repaired and replaced. It would appear that 

facilities management practitioners could 

perhaps be better at updating records using 

currently available systems and solutions, so 

what is the likelihood of a BIM model being 

updated accurately and punctually? What 

guarantee is there that facility operators will 

be any more diligent because we use BIM in 

addition to other applications? 

Asset owners will replace facility 

management service providers from time to 

time. What is to guarantee that the owner’s 

BIM model has been kept up to date? How will 

incoming contractors confirm the accuracy of 

the information presented to them? 

It seems that simply implementing BIM for 

FM may not be enough. Asset owners will need to 

consider contractual terms along with auditing 

by the client or an appointed representative. 

The delivery of an accurate BIM model to FM on 

handover of a facility is also a concern. 

Many facility managers may have only 

limited information on BIM but help is 

readily available through books, standards 

such as ISO technical specifications and 

publicly available specifications. It’s 

important for FM companies to support the 

development of their staff by making these 

resources available and, of course, it’s good 

for business too. If facility management 

companies do not move to embrace BIM their 

clients may simply impose it on them and that 

will put them under serious pressure. 

The tools are available, the information 

is there for the taking, who will successfully 

harness the power that comes with it..? 

Alan Millin is a Dubai-based 

Facilities Scientist and noted 

thinker. 


CONSTRUCTION 

TECHNOLOGY WATCH 

Infrastructure design trends 

Louay Dahmash, Head of Autodesk Middle East delves 

into the technological advancements shaping the world of 

building and infrastructure design and management 

rchitecture, 

engineering, 

A 

construction and 

infrastructure 

industries are being 

asked to do more 

with less revenue, 

against the backdrop of a shrinking 

talent pool. Fortunately, technologies are 

emerging that will allow us to increase cost 

efficiencies, inspire new talent, reshape 

how we design and construct and make our 

built world more sustainable, resilient and 

economically vital. 

Here are some of the trends that we expect 

will accelerate in 2015: 

BIG DATA, BIM & THE CLOUD 

Powerful Building Information Modeling 

(BIM) tools connected to the cloud will drive 

change across industries in 2015. Here’s what 

to expect: 

City planners 

across the globe are creating living 

models of whole cities that contain not 

just the data of millions of buildings 

over thousands of square miles, but 

also – and more interestingly – all 

the meta-data for things like storm 

and flood water flows, pedestrian and 

vehicle traffic, energy use, solar energy 

potential, wind flows and more. The 

data integrated into the BIM process, 

coupled with the power of cloud 

computing, allows engineers to run 

simulations that reveal, for example, 

how adding a new transit line or a new 

road will impact the whole complex 

transit system of a city. Designers 

will also be able to simulate, identify 

and understand the city-wide impact 

(including unintended consequences) 

of their design decisions before 

construction begins. 

Data-rich 3D models 

created within a BIM workflow will 

increasingly be used on construction 

sites, rather than the traditional big rolls 

of blueprints. Using a BIM model on a 

construction site (often on an tablet) will 

help increase accuracy, decrease rework 

and reduce cost—all leading to greater 

sustainability, safety and productivity. 

Furthermore, not all tradesmen will 

need a strong background in CAD or BIM 

to be successful; the tablets will provide 

an intuitive look at the key information 

they need. 

More professionals will 

combine GIS and BIM data in a shift to 

model-based solutions. Using cloudbased 

services, such as Autodesk A360, 

teams will be able to easily deploy and 

manage information, and incorporate 

augmented reality and reality capture 

data to update and keep workflow 

conditions current on projects. The 

ability to have a 3D intelligent record 

of existing utilities and quickly 

account for changing conditions will 

be the foundation for all future asset 

management processes. 

INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) 

As connected devices become increasingly 

prevalent (50bn by 2020), a new ‘Era of 

Connectivity’ is emerging. Now, pervasive 

connectivity allows project teams—across 

 


CONSTRUCTION 

key building operations metrics such 

as energy consumption, comfort, 

security, and water performance. 

This will clear the path for evidencebased 

design. Firms will also use 

cloud, advanced design software and 

fully integrated BIM process to help 

connect outcomes, performance and 

construction. The data collected 

will inform how buildings are being 

used so we can operate them more 

efficiently. 

 

 

 

industries—to tap expertise from around 

the world and collaborate in real-time, from 

anywhere on projects. Here’s where we’ll 

see the IoT’s biggest impact in 2015 and 

beyond: 

IoT technologies 

are now seen in everything from 

embedded sensors in the road, to 

cameras and multi-purpose wireless 

accelerometers for civil infrastructure 

monitoring. It’s creating an era of 

“connected infrastructure.” And the 

data generated from these connected 

systems will give city planners 

real time insights and answers to 

questions such as, did we build the 

right infrastructure in the first place, 

and what adjustments can be made to 

optimise performance? 

 

Cities are starting to use a combination 

of embedded sensors and data from 

citizen’s smartphones to better 

understand and optimise the 

performance of various city systems. 

For example: 

Cities such as Seoul and Rio de 

Janeiro are capturing real-time 

traffic on streets to identif y and 

alleviate problems. 

Rio de Janeiro also uses predictive 

analytics on keyword searches to 

identify potential hot spots for urban 

problems like crime or traffic. 

Boston has sensors on garbage cans 

that alert the sanitation department 

when they need to be emptied, saving 

workers time and truck fuel when 

unneeded stops are skipped. 

As 

sensors become cheaper, they’ll 

continue to be integrated into new and 

retrofitted buildings, and used to gather 

analytics that measure performance on 

3D PRINTING 

The fascinating possibilities of 3D 

printing - as applied to building design 

and construction - caught the imagination 

industry visionaries in 2014, and is poised 

to see more great strides in 2015. For 

example: 

 

Watch for more use of 3D printing, 

as it moves from small scale models 

to more significant prototypes 

for building elements, and more 

explorations of full-scale 3D printed 

structures on the job site. While 

architects and construction firms 

have started using 3D printing 

for scale models and prototypes, 

we’ll see expanded uses beyond 

those practices such as 3D printing 

entire walls and creating modular 

architectural elements. Fabricating 

and 3D printing building components 

offsite makes the building process 

more efficient, less wasteful and 

safer. These are big moves for an 

industry that has long been chided 

for slow gains in productivity and 

high levels of waste and safety 

concerns. 

It remains to be 

seen how 3D printing will be used to 

replace old infrastructure or design 

new elements. This is an incredibly 

complex field and it will require time 

and testing before 3D printing is 

fully integrated into the workflow. 

That being said, we have seen some 

interesting pilot projects emerge. 

For example, global engineering firm 

Arup used laser-sintered 3D printing 

to create metal support struts for 

a pedestrian bridge in Brisbane, 

Australia. 


TRANSPORTATION 

 

 

TRIPLE-BOTTOM LINE 

In 2015, we will see greater industry 

awareness and acceptance toward triplebottom 

line services. Assessing the economic, 

social and environmental costs and benefits 

of proposed projects throughout the design 

process will become the norm. This will 

lead to an increase in net-zero buildings, 

low-impact development projects, healthier 

products and sustainable city and community 

planning initiatives. Here’s how triple-bottom 

line approaches will impact infrastructure, 

buildings and manufacturing: 

From future proofing 

cities, to infrastructure resiliency, to 

dealing with natural and manmade 

disasters, the need to understand both 

the short and long term impacts of a 

particular design is becoming critical. 

With demand far outpacing available 

funding, just building infrastructure 

right is no longer good enough. Today, 

we need to use technology to deliver 

maximum sustainable “business” 

value. BIM helps designers understand 

a broader set of environmental and 

social benefits and risks—beyond just 

financial metrics—for infrastructure 

projects. BIM is well established now 

and will continue to advance in 2015. 

Using BIM and cloud . 

REALITY CAPTURE AND COMPUTING 

One of the hottest trends of 2014 that will 

continue to gain momentum in 2015 is the 

use of reality capture tools [think 4K digital 

cameras mounted on remote controlled 

drones] to quickly and cost-effectively 

incorporate existing physical condition 

data directly into advanced 3D models for 

buildings and civil infrastructure projects. 

Reality capture and computing will continue 

to change the planning, design, production 

and operations/management of projects 

across industries in 2015. Here’s how 

reality capture and computing will impact 

construction, infrastructure and sustainable 

building design: 

Watch for the continued 

use of high-quality, accurate 3D models 

of existing environmental conditions 

(land and/or surrounding structures) to 

impact early design decision making for 

new construction projects. Pioneering 

firms in 2015 and beyond will use HD 

digital cameras on drones to gather 

accurate and tangible field information. 

This point-cloud data, which is often 

also captured via laser scanners, will 

be fed into reality computing software 

and cloud-based services, such as 

Autodesk’s ReCap 360, to create initial 

3D models. From there the 3D models 

can be directly imported into heavyduty 

design software for buildings, 

such as Autodesk Revit. This process 

increases accuracy with data collection, 

while accelerating the process and thus 

driving down costs. In addition, teams 

are able to detect issues that they might 

have previously overlooked using the 

traditional paper and pen approach. 

Civil infrastructure 

projects such as roads, bridges, water 

systems and the like will also benefit 

from reality capture and computing 

technologies moving forward. In 2015, 

we expect to see a dramatic growth in 

the creation of sophisticated 3D project 

models of everything from dams to 

bridges—based on data captured via 

aerial photos or laser scanners. These 

will offer designers and managers more 

insight than ever before and enable them 

to account for factors such as natural 

disasters and crisis management. 

3D 

models developed via reality capture 

and computing, combined with 

powerful cloud-based energy simulation 

software will give designers in 2015 a 

leg up on making smart decisions on 

what existing structures are viable 

candidates for retrofitting. And for new 

building designs, 3D models originating 

though reality capture and computing 

will help designers optimise energy 

efficiency at the earliest stages of the 

design process. 

Thanks to rapid advances in technologies 

as diverse as drones and photogrammetry, 

cloud-based software and sensors, the world 

of building and infrastructure design and 

management is rapidly evolving to become 

something that only a few years ago might 

have seemed like science fiction fantasy. As 

these changes take place, we can expect to 

see a better-designed, more sustainable builtenvironment 

emerge around us. 


ACCESS over 10,000 top jobs daily 

NETWORK with professional peers 

SHARE leading career content 

Associate GC - Oil & Gas 

Michael Page International 

Limited - Qatar 

You will be responsible for providing 

guidance on the development, 

maintenance and continual 

improvement of the company's 

Corporate Governance and Compliance 

framework, acting as an independent 

review and evaluation body to ensure 

the effective implementation of the 

company's Corporate Governance and 

Compliance framework. 

Apply Now JB3302468 

Head of Compensation - Oil 

and Gas - Michael Page 

International Limited - Qatar 

You will be responsible for the 

development of company strategy in 

relation to employee compensation and 

benefits and will be required to be a 

graduate of Business Studies/ 

Mathematics with preference towards a 

quantitative major (Accounting/ Finance) 

and a post graduate degree in Business 

or Human Resource, as well as, Oil and 

Gas experience in a global organization. 


Area Quality Manager - O&G 

Construction - Fishhook 

Selection - KSA 

You will be responsible for coordinating 

with Business Unit Managers to ensure 

the projects are adequately manned 

with Quality Assurance/Quality Control 

(QA/QC) personnel, carrying out audits at 

both project and country level verifying 

the company’s adherence to the 

Integrated Management System (IMS), as 

well as, preparing and issuing monthly 

reports. 


Drilling Oil & Gas General 

Manager - Talent Select ME 

KSA 

You will be responsible for directing and 

controlling all operation and financial 

planning and providing reports to the 

Managing Director and the Board of 

Director, exercising direct control over 

supervisors and managers in relation to 

cost and productivity, providing 

leadership and guidance to subordinate 

managers and supervisors. 

Apply Now 

JB3274556 

Construction Manager - O&G 

Pipelines - Fishhook 

Selection - KSA 

You will be responsible for providing 

technical and managerial directions to 

project team members, as directed by 

the project manager, reviewing the 

performance of project team members 

and reporting the same to the project 

manager, as well as, ensuring that Safety 

Rules and Regulations are implemented 

in coordination with the Safety Manager. 

Apply Now 

JB3013324 

Engineering Manager 

Progressive Global Energy 

UAE 

You will be required to have B. Sc or an 

equivalent degree in Engineering 

(Mechanical or Chemical) from an 

accredited university, a minimum 20 

years relevant experience in the Oil and 

Gas industry, must have been in the 

consultant's organization for at least 5 

years in an Engineering Manager 

position, as well as, an advanced degree 

in Engineering Management. 


Energy Project Manager 

Al Futtaim Group 

UAE 

You will be responsible for performing 

and managing energy solutions projects 

in the region, based in Dubai with the 

ability to travel to KSA, Egypt and Qatar if 

required, representing the energy 

management services and solutions to 

customers and handling the execution of 

energy savings services project, as well 

as, planning, controlling and monitoring 

the project. 


Structural Engineer 

Hatch Pty. Ltd. 

UAE 

You will be required to have a minimum 

8 years aluminium projects experience, 

reduction (potline) structural design 

experience including potroom building 

foundations, steel structure, crane 

runway and electrical insulation 

concepts, carbon and casthouse 

equipment would be an advantage, as 

well as, business development/ client 

engagement skills. 


Head - Energy Management 

Al Futtaim Group 

UAE 

You will be responsible for managing the 

energy management business and 

related activities in the region, based in 

Dubai with the ability to travel to KSA, 

Egypt and Qatar if required, 

demonstrating a high level of heading 

Energy Management business especially 

in energy performance contracting with 

a record for continuously achieving 

on-target performance . 


www.bayt.com 

Register Upload your CV Apply

CONSTRUCTION 

POWDER COATINGS 

Pushing the envelope 

Ram Ramnath traces the rise of powder coatings in 

the Middle East, and their role in realising the region’s 

building landmarks 

hen observing today’s 

urban cityscape, 

W 

what stands out is 

the transformation 

of building materials 

which are used in the 

construction process. 

The expression ‘concrete jungle’ is perhaps 

no longer an accurate description for the 

contemporary metropolis as innovative 

architectural designs implement more 

aesthetically pleasing products such as glass, 

steel and aluminium. 

Another element which has grown in the 

preference of architects, both big and small, 

for their projects is powder coatings. Powder 

coating products have complemented this 

period of innovation and play an important 

role in the creation of the architectural 

masterpieces we see today. 

Developments in coating technology have 

contributed to push the envelope in façade 

design and make possible what would have 

been unimaginable 40 years ago. When 

it comes to exterior facades of buildings, 

architects today can take the variety of 

materials at their disposal for granted as 

they are afforded greater levels of flexibility 

in what can be conceptualised. This has 

been made possible by the increased array 

of aluminium profiles, float glass as well 

as the colours, performance and finish of 

powder coatings specially formulated for 

architectural applications. 

EVOLUTION 

Powder coatings developed in the late 60s 

and 70s, mainly as an environment-friendly 

alternative to industrial finishing, being 

a technique that obviates the need for any 

solvents. The initial developments were made 

using Epoxy resins and subsequently using 

a mixture of Epoxy and Polyester resins 

which provided these coatings more stability, 

enabling coating of a number of indoor objects 

made of metal. 

The pioneers of this technology probably 

did not even dream that this would be adapted 

in future to the far more complex needs of 

the architectural and building industry. It 

is when chemists started working with pure 

polyester resins that the possibilities of this 

technology became more evident. 

European architects and contractors 

seized upon the design flexibility offered by 

powder coatings and also recognised the 

environmental benefits. During this period, 

aluminium extrusions also became the 

material of choice for windows, door frames, 

grilles and other metalwork while adonisation 

was still the preferred finishing method. 

Anodising is a durable choice but was 

limited to a few colours (silver, bronze 

and black), wasn’t eco-friendly and was 

vulnerable to minor surface blemishes. 

Hence architects were delighted when 

powder coatings provided a wider range of 


CONSTRUCTION 

colours and finishes without compromising 

on long term durability. With zero solvents 

and VOCs, powder coatings proved to be a 

more sustainable option. Contractors also 

found it easier to apply when compared to the 

time consuming processes endured with wet 

paints and Anodisation. 

Rapid advancements in technology over 

the next few years made powder coatings 

the most popular option in most European 

countries. Any hurdles that came in the way, 

were quickly overcome by concerted R&D 

from global powder coatings manufacturers 

working closely with chemical suppliers 

involved in surface treatment of aluminium 

prior to coating. One of the early challenges 

was to ensure weathering performance of the 

powder coating to withstand the elements, 

particularly the harsh ultra violet radiation 

from the sun. Chemists in the industry 

were quick to devise strong and stable pure 

Polyester resin based systems that could 

overcome this challenge and provide long 

term aesthetic appearance and corrosion 

protection to the aluminium facades. 

Another challenge faced was what came 

to be known as ‘filiform’ corrosion (corrosion 

that began like a thin strand, resembling a 

filament but which eventually damaged the 

coating) especially in the Mediterranean 

coastal environments, but this was also 

overcome with some good teamwork by 

chemists from both, manufacturers of 

powders and of pre-treatment chemicals. 

Improvements made by equipment suppliers 

also greatly enhanced the user-friendliness of 

powder coatings application. 

IN THE MIDDLE EAST 

The Middle East was next to adopt this 

technology during the mid-80s. The high 

oil revenues from the 70s led to the first 

building booms in the UAE, Saudi Arabia 

and Kuwait; the market was rife for trends 

and innovations and almost all architects 

preferred the colour, flair and performance 

of powder coatings for metal facades over the 

drabness of anodising! 

However, the Middle East presented a 

highly contrasting set of challenges compared 

to Europe because of the hot, humid and 

corrosive environment with some of the highest 

ultraviolet radiation levels in the world. 

This is where inventive manufacturers 

have risen to the task of developing 

architectural powder coatings which can 

withstand the harsh regional climate over 

the course of many years. While the first 

generation of Powder Coatings whetted the 

appetite of architects and builders with 10- 

year guarantees and much higher levels of life 

expectancy, that was clearly not enough for 

the iconic buildings that began to take shape 

in the nineties, such as the Burj Al Arab, The 

Atlantis and The Palm islands, which would 

demand even higher performance levels. 

Thus, Jotun’s Super Durable powder coating 

range that came out in the mid-90s offered a 

25-year guarantee. 

It wasn’t solely the performance aspect 

which attracted architects, as they also 

demanded colour, flair and appearances 

such as matte, metallic and wood look 

and this is where the industry has indeed 

proved its mettle. Not just sophisticated 

formulations, not just innovative pigments 

including metallic, but also sophisticated 

manufacturing and application techniques. 

All this developed the confidence of the 

entire architectural community to specify 

Powder Coatings as the finish of choice 

on architectural metalwork over all other 

competing technologies. 

Architectural powder coatings made 

their way into Asia Pacific as well although 

anodising still retains a significant share 

in this region, unlike Europe and the 

Middle East. Landmark buildings like the 

Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok and 

the Taipei 101 in Taiwan were early trend 

setters, following which many commercial 

and iconic buildings in South East Asian 

countries have chosen powder coatings for 

their metal facades. 

Research and development continues to 

be a vital part of the business for powder 

coating firms in order to consistently 

improve the range of products they have to 

offer. One feature, amongst many others, 

that is constantly enhanced is the level of 

durability and resistance to ultraviolet 

radiation. Another unique selling point 

powder coating manufacturers have 

developed in their products is the 

environmentally sustainable features they 

offer architectural developments compared 

to alternative options. 

HUGE MARKET 

When powder coatings were first 

introduced in the 70s, they usually did 

not feature in prominent architectural 

developments. Today building projects 

constitute for 20% of the global powder 

coating industry’s revenue, estimated at 

about $7.5bn annually. Powder coatings 

have evolved to suit the needs of the 

building industry, as it made its transition 

from concrete to aluminium and glass 

facades. 

Besides the inventiveness of the key 

global manufacturers, it was also the 

entire ‘eco-system’ around it that kept 

pace in order to create and nurture this 

market – the surface chemicals industry, 

the growing sophistication of the powder 

application equipment industry and last, 

but not least, the regulatory approach 

provided by independent coating quality 

associations, such as the Swiss based 

Qualicoat. Such strong foundations and 

track record augur well for an even brighter 

future for architectural powder coatings. 

(The author is Vice President, Jotun 

Powder Coatings) 


UTILITIES 

WASTEWATER TREATMENT 

An irresistible attraction 

Marcia Sherony looks at the opportunities and pitfalls of 

introducing intermittent plant operation in wastewater 

treatment processes, like grit removal 

perating wastewater 

treatment plant 

O 

processes or equipment 

intermittently offers the 

irresistible attraction of 

reduced energy costs. 

But take the practice 

too far, or in the wrong circumstances, and 

treatment processes can be damaged as a result. 

The cost of energy is a constant 

consideration on the operating budget of 

plant operators. Public facilities that treat 

and distribute drinking water and those that 

collect and treat wastewater are energyintensive, 

accounting for approximately three 

percent of US electricity use (approximately 

100bn kWh annually). [1] 

For local governments, this level of 

consumption means that water and 

wastewater facilities are one of the largest 

and most energy intensive loads they own and 

operate, representing up to 35% of municipal 

energy use. [2] Wastewater facilities, in 

particular, have a wide variety of processes and 

associated equipment that consume energy. 

The equipment and processes used in 

treatment plant operation, and the amount of 

energy they use, vary significantly reflecting 

the regional topography and environmental 

conditions and requirements to treat certain 

types or concentrations of waste. 

LOOKING FOR SAVINGS IN 

ENERGY USAGE 

Any plant operator tasked with auditing 

wastewater processes to isolate the biggest 

energy consumers and identify operational 

efficiencies faces conflicting priorities. Both 

operators and engineering designers are 

motivated firstly by maintaining or improving 

the availability and reliability of their 

facilities. Any energy-efficiency opportunities 

have to be considered within this context. 

A waste treatment plant engineer knows 

that motors and motor-driven equipment use 

a significant amount of energy to pump, filter 

and aerate the water. Indeed, wastewater 

aeration, pumping and solids processing 

account for a significant amount of the 

electricity used in wastewater treatment. 

Approximately 42,000 wastewater pumping 

stations across the country operate to meet 

continuous and varying wastewater flows 

and typically, pumps are the most prominent 

energy consumers. 

However, each piece of equipment is part of 

an integrated system. Therefore, it is important 

to consider facility performance when 

introducing energy-efficiency measures and 

to determine which measure or combination 

of measures will result in the biggest energy 

reduction for a given investment, and avoid 

degradation in performance. 

Frequent targets of cost-cutting audits 

are pumps and the subsequent activated 

sludge treatment process. Both processes 

can be energy-intensive in many plants. 

For example, in a typical activated sludge 

treatment plant, the aeration system typically 

represents 60% of a plant’s electricity use; 

pumping represents an additional 15%, of 

which grit slurry pumping is a small part. 

GRIT SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS 

It’s tempting to think that diurnal flow 

variations and wet versus dry weather 

variations in incoming wastewater flow 

volumes might be met with intermittent grit 

pumping schedules. While plants should 

continue to reduce electricity consumption 

where possible, balancing the system 

performance efficiency and operation of 

any other downstream treatment processes 

must also be considered. The loss of digester 

performance and aeration basin efficiency, 

along with the time and expense to clean 

either, can quickly offset any savings realised 

by running the grit pump intermittently. 

As there are no industry guidelines 

available for intermittent running of grit 

pumps, careful and continuous attention to 

flow and incoming grit load is required and 

intermittent operation is often not suited 

to many plants and locations for a variety of 

considerations including flows, collection 

system design, condition of the collection 

system, and grit loading 

Continuous grit pumping is recommended 

in many applications to ensure that elevated 

grit loads and wet weather events are covered 

when higher grit volumes can be expected. It 

is also important that total solids in pumped 


CONSTRUCTION 

grit slurry remain at approximately 1% or 

below, otherwise washing and dewatering 

equipment efficiency can degrade and risk 

plugging, as can piping. 

Where conditions allow, it is possible to 

consider intermittent pump operation, which 

should always be assessed by an expert. For 

example, it could be used if the range between 

the peak and average flow is very great, (i.e. 

high wet weather flow spikes) or there are 

very low overnight incoming flows with small 

grit loadings such as may occur at small 

plants. However, the entire grit system must 

be designed to handle the build-up of grit 

which will occur with intermittent operation. 

When operating the grit system 

intermittently, it is advisable that continuous 

operation is still enabled during wet weather 

events. This can be achieved either by influent 

flow sensing triggered by a set point for 

automatically switching between continuous 

and intermittent operation, or a manual 

control switch with timed intervals during 

dry weather and continuous during wet. The 

latter carries a certain risk if not well attended. 

High-performance grit separation system 

can be optimised for intermittent flows. 

In the latest developments of the Eutek 

HeadCell for example, an expanded grit 

underflow collector allows grit to inventory 

while the pump is not operating. Flexible 

grit pump operation can be optimised by 

plant operations personnel based on grit load 

and plant demand while minimising energy 

consumption. Intermittent pump operation 

can also reduce plant use of Non-Potable 

Water associated with the grit washing/ 

dewatering system components as these 

components typically run in tandem with the 

grit pump. 

DESIGN IMPLICATIONS 

In other grit collection technologies, energy 

usage is dependent on the process design as 

well as the operating equipment. For example, 

aerated grit basins can be a significant source 

of power consumption due to the blowers 

used to supply air to diffusers located in 

the basin. Aeration basins typically have a 

recommended air delivery rate of three to 

eight cfm of basin length, where the basin 

length is the standard three to eight times its 

width, and designed for a detention time of 

three minutes at peak flow. This means that a 

typical basin of 55 ft length, and a width of 7 

ft to 18ft, could require 165 to 440 cfm of air, 

and need up to 100HP of power to drive the air 

compressor. There are, of course, far bigger 

basins which require more air and higher 

power to produce it. 

The next power user in a grit system is 

typically the grit pump and any potential 

saving through intermittent operation would 

be attractive. However, will intermittent 

pump operation impact the grit- or other 

subsequent processes? Combined sewer 

plants and plants with a large peak to average 

flow ratios will see a significant increase in 

grit load at higher flows. 

Grit quantities are typically reported to 

range from 0.53-24 ft3/mgal (M&E) and 

operating grit pumps intermittently during 

high influent loadings can be detrimental to the 

grit removal process and cause plugging, loss of 

grit and system failure. Pumping intermittently 

increases the concentration of the grit slurry as 

well as the problematic debris accumulated in 

the grit sump and grit slurry piping. 

In fact, even without intermittent pump 

operation, the lack of sound design guidance 

may contribute to the problems met in 

removing, conveying, and processing grit 

slurry at many treatment facilities; combined 

sewer collection systems are particularly 

prone. It is ironic that this process is 

intended to prevent or reduce downstream 

maintenance, but often is fraught with its own 

frequent maintenance issues such as plugged 

grit slurry collection sumps, plugged grit slurry 

piping, failed grit slurry pumps, and plugged 

grit slurry concentrators. Intermittent 

operation will only exacerbate such problems. 

CAREFUL CONCLUSION 

While decisions to run equipment like pumps, 

including grit pumps, intermittently can save 

electricity and lower energy costs, care must 

be taken to match the operating schedule to 

plant inflow conditions. Careful assessment 

and the right grit removal equipment will 

greatly reduce the risks of extra costs 

incurred through ineffective removal using 

conventional technologies or intermittently 

pumping decisions influenced solely by the 

desire to cut the dollars. 

Consulting closely with engineering 

designers and equipment manufacturers 

is, therefore, essential to take advantage of 

the opportunities of intermittent operation 

without running unnecessary risks. 

References 

1. EPRI, Water and Wastewater Industries: 

Characteristics and Energy Management 

Opportunities, 1996 

2. Consortium for Energy Efficiency National 

Municipal Water and Wastewater Facility 

Initiative 

(The author is National Sales Manager of Hydro 

International, which provides water, wastewater and 

storm-water solutions based on vortex technologies) 


UTILITIES 

INDUSTRY WATCH 

Deconstructing Cooling 

Day 2 of the 8th edition of The Climate Control Conference, held on June 15 and 16 at the 

Meydan in Dubai, once again saw representatives from government and stakeholders 

from the construction and HVAC industries engaged in discussions to identify a roadmap 

for a cohesive approach to multiple disciplines and activities that typically shape a builtenvironment 

By Rajiv Pillai 

THE MODERATORS – B Surendar, 

the Editorial Director and Associate 

Publisher of CPI Industry and 

Sougata Nandi, the Technical Advisor 

for Sustainable Development at 

CPI Industry – set the tone for the 

discussions by further breaking 

away from the traditional format of 

conference discussions. Session 9 

was dedicated to cooling approaches. 

Excerpts from the discussion, in 

verbatim format... 

Surendar: “What 

we are trying to do 

through this session 

is to look at cooling 

approaches from 

different virtue 

standpoints: safety, 

reliability, energy 

efficiency, costeffectiveness, 

resource 

conservation, being the least polluting, being 

the least noisy, having the smallest footprint 

possible, technological flexibility and being 

reasonably future-safe from an economic 

perspective. We are going to be looking at 

various cooling approaches – at District 

Cooling, at water-cooled systems from a 

boarder perspective and at air-cooled systems. 

“First and foremost, I would like to bring 

in Engr. Redha Salman. He’s the Director 

of the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) 

operations of Dubai Municipality (DM). One 

of the fundamental requirements, as we all 

know, is water. The availability of water, 

when we talk of District Cooling, when we 

talk of water-cooled systems. Engr. Redha, if 

you could please take us through the efforts 

that DM is taking to ensure we have enough 

TSE (treated sewage effluent). What are 

the efforts you are taking to generate and 

distribute that TSE? Do we have enough to 

consider District Cooling as a viable model?” 

Eng. Redha Salman, 

Director of STP 

Department – 

Dubai Municipality 

(DM): “We have 

three networks 

under us – we have 

wastewater sewage 

coming in, we have 

another network for 

TSE to distribute for landscaping and we have 

another network for the stormwater. 

“Speaking about TSE, last year we had 

217m cubic metres. Only 30m were surplus, 

which went to the sea. But the surplus is only 

during seasons where water is not much in 

demand. Yes, we do have TSE, but it varies 

during seasons. These are important issues 

that one should consider. 

“And yes, it [TSE] is cost-effective; its 

price is 1.3 AED per cubic metre. This is 

more attractive than the cost of DEWA 


INFRASTRUCTURE 

ME DISCOUNT 

Save 50% & pay only 

$670 for the Joint 

Three Day Pass under 

“InfrastructureME” 

promo code 

CONFERENCE&EXHIBITION 

4-6OCT2015 

ABU DHABI NATIONAL EXHIBITION CENTRE 

SHARING TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION 

Under the Patronage of 

H.E. Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy, UAE 

Co-located with the 8th Exhibition of Electrical Industries in the 

Arab World hosted by the Ministry of Energy, UAE 

GLOBAL ENERGY PERSPECTIVES & SOLUTIONS 

You are invited to join the 13th annual POWER-GEN Middle East conference & exhibition for exceptional business opportunities and the 

chance to experience: 

Joint opening ceremony featuring change to honoured speakers: HE. Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy, UAE; Dr. Matar 

Hamed Al Neyadi, Undersecretary of Ministry of Energy, UAE and Eng. Jamila Youssef Matar, Director of Energy Management, 

League of Arab States, Egypt and Mr. Glenn Ensor, Managing Director, PennWell International Power Group, UK 

 

 

 

 

MAKE IMPORTANT CONNECTIONS AND EXPAND YOUR MARKET SHARE 

Register now at www.power-gen-middleeast.com 

ORGANISED & PRODUCED BY: 

SUPPORTING UTILITIES: 

PRESENTED BY:

UTILITIES 

water. And it is used for several applications. 

One of them is greenery and landscaping. We 

have mapped out and found that TSE can be 

used in 23 different applications. There are 

only a couple of District Cooling companies 

that are using TSE. There is no regulation 

to force the District Cooling company to use 

TSE water.” 

Surendar: “George, do you believe in the 

present model of District Cooling?” 

George Berbari 

of DC Pro 

Engineering: 

“From 2005 to 

2015, the only 

development 

that happened 

in the District 

Cooling industry 

was efficiency 

improvement from the chiller 

manufacturer. It did not come from the 

industry. And we stagnated in [District 

Cooling] technology. Once you stagnate, 

other technologies will develop. That 

said, 70% of the market is still air-cooled 

chillers and ducted splits. District Cooling 

is using outdated technology and needs to 

evolve and develop… or die.” 

Surendar: “What are the other drawbacks? 

Ghaleb, you earlier spoke that it takes five 

litres to produce 1 kW of energy. We are 

talking of a very important aspect here – 

the availability of water for District Cooling 

and, further, the cost of producing that 

water.” 

Nandi: “How would 

you do District 

Cooling differently 

if you were to decide 

that this is the way to 

make it more popular, 

rather than enforcing 

it through mandate 

or regulation? How 

would you do an 

entire Life Cycle Cost comparison between 

District Cooling and a standalone system?” 

Ghaleb Abusaa, CEO 

of en3 Solutions 

(The Three Factors 

Company): “There 

will never be one 

single solution. There 

will always be direct 

expansion systems, 

small splits, VRVs, air-cooled chillers and 

central air conditioning, forever. And that 

will possibly continue to take 70% to 80% of 

the market. This is because of the class of the 

people; it’s the nature of the societies. So, when 

you do a job, do not exclude any possible type of 

air conditioning, because sometimes what you 

thought was the worst becomes the best.” 

“The problem today with District Cooling 

when it comes to feasibility is that the current 

contract, which I hope RSB will change, 

does not allow the end-user to reduce his 

capacity. If you are assigned to 1,000 TR 

(tonnes of refrigeration) capacity, you have 

to pay a connection fee for 1000 TR all the 

year. And this is one of the drawbacks. The 

second problem is a penalty for Low Delta-T 

Syndrome by some manufacturers. 

“Yet another major problem we have 

with District Cooling is that when we have 

two or three plants connected to a common 

network, we don’t have a live monitoring of 

the network. We only monitor the Energy 

Transfer Station (ETS) and the District 

Cooling plant.” 

Nandi: “Holistically, how do air-cooled 

chillers stack up? Energy-efficiency-wise, 

it might not be as efficient as water-cooled 

chillers. But is there a case for air-cooled 

chillers?” 

Bharat Asarpota, 

Maintenance 

Engineer – Emarat: 

“It depends on various 

stakeholders on 

what they want. You 

have to take the cost 

into consideration 

on whether you are 

getting it from the grid 

or District Cooling and you pass on the cost to 

the tenants or consumers. As developers, the 

priorities have to be made very clear. 

“As far as we are concerned, my 

corporation, when we developed the 

land in 1990, Sheikh Zayed Road had the 

Metropolitan Hotel. The government gave 

us this land, and there was absolutely no 

infrastructure. Forget about TSE, there was 

insufficient water. So we had to go in for aircooled 

chillers, and I think a lot of projects 

are stuck because of that. It’s not easy to 

retrofit an air-cooled chiller project and go 

for a water-cooled chiller, instead. It’s just 

not possible. We actually looked at District 

Cooling as an alternative, but there was no 

infrastructure for it.” 

Nandi: “In my opinion, there are also District 

Cooling plants that are standalone – meaning 

that they serve only one customer. We have 

Nimal here, who has worked on such projects. 

One of them was the Wafi Mall, which uses a 

District Cooling plant and the other was the 

Hyatt Regency chilled water plant retrofit 

project. Please share with us very briefly both 

the projects in terms of what they used to be 

before and how they were upgraded into the 

new system. And what specific advantages, in 

terms of energy savings and cost reduction, 

were you able to achieve owing to the 

upgrades?” 

Nimal Amukotuwa, 

Consultant: 

“Wafi uses a District 

Cooling plant, and 

it’s a single user. In 

Wafi, initially, each 

building had different 

HVAC systems. Some 

were air-cooled and 

some were watercooled. 

At the same time, they were building 

the pyramid-shaped hotel, Raffles. So, they 

approached us and said they wanted to go for 

a standalone plant, which they would use for 

all their properties, including the hotel. We 

designed one plant in one of the vacant plant 

rooms. And gradually disconnected all the 

systems one by one. The plant had sufficient 

capacity. The total plant capacity was 14,000 

TR, and around 8,000 TR, I believe, were 

required for the hotel. Only thing I can’t 

give you is energy savings. But, it was very 

successful, because their engineers have told 

us that they are very happy. And that they are 

saving money.” 

“We retrofitted Hyatt Regency along with 

some apartment blocks. They had old York 

chillers that were around 20 years old. This 

was in 2004. I looked at them and said that 

we have to change the chillers, the cooling 

towers, the condensate water pumps and the 

primary chilled water pumps. At the time 

of proposing, I also suggested we should go 

for variable-flow primary Chillers. We had 

two variable-speed chillers and others were 

fixed speed chillers. We also had a chiller 

management system, which came from 

the chiller manufacturer – they were York 

chillers. Hyatt insisted on York. 

“The Director of Engineering at Hyatt 

said that they were saving 32% on energy 

consumption. And this was all because of 

variable speed and chiller combination.” 


SOLUTIONS HUB 

OFF-GRID PROPOSITION 

Hybrid power 

SES SMART Energy Solutions and Building Energy to jointly install the first off-grid 

temporary hybrid plant in Saudi Arabia 

ES SMART Energy 

Solutions, a leading 

S 

rental power provider 

in the Middle East and 

Africa (MEA) region, 

is teaming up with 

Building Energy, an 

Italy-based independent power producer from 

renewable sources, to develop a first of its 

kind on-field temporary hybrid plant, in the 

Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. 

The 14MW diesel-solar plant will produce 

54MWh per year from solar energy, saving 

diesel fuel and reducing CO2 emissions. The 

energy produced from this project will be 

sold by means of a five-year Power Purchase 

Agreement (PPA). 

The project will be the first on-field 

application of Green Energy Temporary 

Solution (G.E.T.S.), a hybrid, modular and 

portable solution that employs renewable 

energy sources technologies for the temporary 

production of power in off-grid areas. 

G.E.T.S. is Building Energy’s proprietary 

solution, developed to tackle the issue of energy 

access in rural areas. Being preassembled, 

prewired and containerised, G.E.T.S. is ready 

to be shipped where energy is needed and can 

be quickly and easily installed with minimal 

environmental impact. This technology was 

developed to allow isolated energy-intensive 

industries, such as mines for example, to 

meet their temporary power needs. It enables 

integrating green technologies in rural areas, 

where no other energy infrastructures are 

available. 

For the realisation of this project in Saudi 

Arabia, Building Energy’s Green Energy 

Temporary Solution (G.E.T.S) technology will 

be integrated with the diesel generator sets 

provided by SES Smart Energy Solutions, one 

of the main rental power providers across 

the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia 

region serving temporary energy needs. The 

use of hybrid energy technologies will allow to 

save diesel fuel, consequently reducing CO2 

emissions. 

This solution will be developed in Saudi 

Arabia, which is covered by Building Energy 

from its Dubai offices which also serves as the 

coordination centre for other projects in the 

Middle East and North Africa. In Jordan, the 

company signed an agreement protocol with 

the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources 

after being selected for the construction of 

a 50MW power plant as part of the second 

round for the renewable energy production 

programme. Building Energy has also been 

shortlisted for other large scale photovoltaic 

projects in Jordan and Egypt, and is working 

on a pipeline of projects in Saudi Arabia, Qatar 

and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

Massimo Teodori, Managing Director 

Smart System, Building Energy, said: “We are 

excited to implement, for the first time on field, 

Green Energy Temporary Solution (G.E.T.S), 

a temporary hybrid plant based on renewable 

energy technologies. We believe that energy 

is crucial to secure basic human needs, such as 

access to clean water and healthcare. 

However, at present, there are over 1.3bn 

people who still lack these services because 

they live in off-grid areas. G.E.T.S. could be 

an excellent solution to provide rural areas 

with energy access, thanks to its easy and 

fast installation and requiring no initial 

investment.” 

He continued: “We are also glad to team 

up with SES to develop this project in Saudi 

Arabia, in the MENA region, an area which is 

appealing for the renewables sector thanks 

to its rich natural resources, such as sun and 

wind. Recognising the opportunity, several 

countries here have set specific objectives to 

increase the share of energy produced from 

renewable sources, starting a significant 

change in the energy system.” 

Waleed Isaac, SES SMART Energy Solutions 

Managing Director said: “SES is glad to provide 

its customers with fast re-deployable renewable 

energy solutions using Building Energy G.E.T.S. 

This will further enhance SES offering in the 

Middle East and Africa region, mainly for 

remote sites and mines, where SES specialises 

in providing on demand short to medium term 

energy solutions and in line with IFC and 

World Bank Environmental policies.” 

Building Energy has a large portfolio of 

renewable plants in operation, construction 

and development, with a total pipeline in 

excess of 2,000 MW in Europe, Africa, Central 

and North America and recently in the MENA 

region and Asia. 

Headquartered in Jebel Ali Free Zone, 

Dubai, SES SMART Energy Solutions serves 

short to medium term power generation 

needs from 50 kVA to more than 100 MW. 

The company operates through two major 

lines of business, Power Projects and Flow. 

The Power Projects business specialises in the 

rapid deployment of turnkey power generation 

solutions coupled with comprehensive 

operation and maintenance services and 

ultimately the sale of reliable and efficient 

power to utilities, governments, armed forces, 

oil companies, and mines. The Flow business 

specialises on the rental of lower capacity 

power generation equipment. Apart from the 

UAE, SES currently operates in Saudi Arabia, 

Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Iraq, Nigeria and Rwanda. 


OIL & GAS 

RISK MANAGEMENT 

A safe pair of hands 

Staying on schedule with plant safety design By Ossama Tawfick 

eeping projects on 

schedule, while 

K 

managing risk and 

costs, is of paramount 

importance with any 

oil & gas, chemical and 

petrochemical project. 

Moreover, identifying and mitigating potential 

hazards quickly is vital to ensuring the 

protection of personnel and plant equipment. 

A number of institutions both locally and 

internationally based are working towards 

the safety of workers and also offer advice 

to organisations on the hazards and risks 

involved in the work place. 

Regardless of the type of project, Greenfield 

or Brownfield, process safety analysis is of 

critical importance. Many companies are still 

deploying traditional manual methods to design 

their process safety systems and using external, 

specialist software or internal, rudimentary tools 

to deliver them. This workflow can introduce 

inaccuracies, which may result in dangerous 

over or under design of relief valves. Today, with 

greater demands on projects, engineers require 

more efficient ways to perform overpressure 

protection analysis in the design of plant 

equipment and in routine maintenance to 

ensure safety standards are fully met. 

On the one hand, E&Cs who serve the 

owner-operators on projects need a robust 

set of integrated safety tools, which allows 

companies to standardise their relief system 

calculation and documentation companywide. 

This provides engineers with the 

confidence that the calculation methodologies 

across the company are high-quality and 

accurate. On the other hand, for owneroperators, 

it is vital to ensure safety records 

are upheld and reputation is maintained. 

UNDERSTANDING PLANT BEHAVIOUR 

Excellence in process safety starts by ensuring 

that facilities are designed, operated and 

maintained in a way that minimises the potential 

for process safety incidents. Risk is managed 

by assessing consequences and implementing 

prevention and mitigation measures. Without a 

reliable control system, the slightest fluctuations 

can dramatically impact an entire system. 

Making the task more difficult, control 

schemes cannot be modelled or analysed using 

steady state process simulation. Dynamic 

simulation provides a convenient and 

powerful way to ensure that the response of 

the control systems results in safe operation. 

As dynamic simulation allows engineers 

to explore the behaviour of a process over 

time in response to changes in conditions, it 

offers an excellent means of trouble-shooting 

unplanned behaviour, like loss of cooling, or 

planned events like start-up and shutdown. 

Additionally, with dynamic models, 

engineers can increase their understanding 

of the process to make better decisions, lower 

capital and operating costs by designing 

equipment and process more intelligently and 

also make economic decisions about how to 

handle an under-performing unit (i.e. replace 

it or change the operating policy). All of these 

advantages are applicable to plants in both 

design and production phases. 

Engineers can perform dynamic modelling 

tests to isolate the cause of the disturbance 

and then determine how to correct the 

fault. This ability to respond quickly and 

intelligently helps reduce plant downtime. 

Furthermore, engineers can use dynamic 

simulation to train new operators, allowing 

them to gain good insights into plant 

behaviour and why incidents occur, as well as 

how to best respond. 

PROCESS SAFETY SOFTWARE 

Many companies have adopted integrated 

engineering software to rigorously improve 

FEED and perform revalidation studies to 

find capital savings and improve process 

safety and reliability. They can conduct safety 

studies, including pressure safety valve sizing, 

flare system design and rating, and dynamic 

analysis for start-up, shutdown, emergencies 

and compressor surge - all with the option 

to use simulation data from tools like Aspen 

HYSYS and Aspen Plus. 

By integrating the safety analysis 

environment within the these simulators, 

engineers can leverage the rigorous 

thermodynamic engine when completing 

pressure relief analysis projects in addition 

to quickly adding and sizing relief valves 

early in the design process using API 520, 521 

methods. 

Ultimately, with process safety software 

tools E&C engineers gain enormous benefits, 

including: 

 

 

ensure data accuracy 

 

flare system models 

 

 

through under designs or overdesigns 

 

pressure safety valve sizing 

 

 

 

documentation for compliance 

 

ease of use 

SAFETY IN HAND 

Safety is the mainstay of any sustainable 

business. Ultimately, risk is managed by 

identifying hazards quickly, assessing 

consequences and probabilities, and 

implementing effective mitigation measures. 

By adopting easy-to-use process safety 

software, businesses will improve safety 

performance across their operations, keep 

projects on schedule and achieve the highest 

standards in operational excellence. 

(The author is VP Sales, MENA, AspenTech) 


EXECUTIVE INSIGHT 

Sven Lindström 

“The solar energy industry is immature, 

with constant changes of leadership 

positions and markets” 

Breaking myths 

Sven Lindström, CEO of Midsummer, a global supplier of thin film CIGS solar cell 

production lines, addresses the five most common solar energy myths 

olar energy and the solar 

industry has exploded 

S 

in the last decade, and is 

today an established and 

competitive renewable 

energy source. Despite 

this (or maybe because 

of this), solar energy has been surrounded by 

myths, rumours and false facts that has dimmed 

the sunny (!) picture. Here are the five most 

common solar energy myths – and the real facts. 

Myth 1: More energy is needed to 

manufacture a solar cell than it will generate 

under its life cycle (alternatively, more CO2 is 

produced to manufacture a solar cell than it will 

save under its lifetime). Fact: Not at all true. 

Today, the energy payback for silicon solar cells 

is less than two years. For thin film solar cells 

the energy payback is less than one year! After 

that period, energy (and CO2) is saved and 

accumulated during the remaining life span 

of the solar cell (often 25 years). Which makes 

solar cells extremely environmentally friendly. 

Myth 2: Solar energy is not financially 

viable without subsidies. Fact: Subsidies are 

being rapidly phased out and technological 

advancements continue to make solar cells 

more efficient. Solar energy is now cheaper 

than purchased electricity (market prices) 

almost everywhere in the world where the sun 

shines. There has been a rapid decline in solar 

energy costs over the last 12 months to the 

point that it competes favourably with even the 

cheapest of fossil fuels. A utility owned by US 

tycoon Warren Buffet recently agreed upon a 

purchase price of 3.87 cents per kWh from First 

Solar’s Nevada plant – probably the cheapest 

electricity price in the US and most of the world. 

Myth 3: Once the global warming “scam” 

is uncovered, no one will be interested in 

solar energy. Fact: Whether you believe in 

global warming or not, and most people do, 

photovoltaic solar energy is a very attractive 

way of generating your own electricity at 

a low foreseeable cost. It is probably the 

cheapest way to generate electricity in sunny 

regions and brings energy independence to 

individuals, corporations and countries alike. 

It is also a potential job creator. So global 

warming, believe it or not, really has nothing 

to do with the benefits of solar energy. 

Myth 4: All solar cell manufacturers 

lose money. Fact: some do, but not all. 

Many manufacturers of silicon solar cells 

compete in the same segment using the same 

technology. They are having a tough time. 

Other segments are more profitable, such as 

thin, lightweight and flexible solar panels. 

The solar energy industry is immature, 

with constant changes of leadership positions 

and markets. What we are witnessing is in 

reality a traditional consolidation phase in 

a new and fledging industry, with winners 

and losers, and with the surviving players 

facing a bright and profitable future. 

Among future winners, we must include roof 

and construction companies with the insight to 

see building integrated PVas the ’next big thing’. 

Solar cells will become better integrated with both 

roofs and facades, and current manufacturers 

of construction materials have a great 

opportunity to gain market shares in this area. 

Myth 5: Solar energy will become 

attractive only when Tesla or any other battery 

manufacturer commences serial production 

of cheap and efficient batteries for the storage 

of electricity. Fact: See myth 2. Solar energy 

is already a very cost competitive source of 

energy. Cheap and efficient batteries will of 

course strengthen its attractiveness, but the 

fact that solar energy is produced when it is 

demanded the most (i.e. in the middle of the day) 

makes solar energy less dependent on storage 

solutions than many other energy sources. 


INFRA PEOPLE 

Kamel Jammeli joins AlMansoori 

AlMansoori have appointed Kamel Jammeli 

as the company’s new Well Service Manager 

for AlMansoori Petroleum Services (AMPS) 

where he brings over 20 years experience 

particularly, but not limited to cementing, 

stimulation, well integrity and drilling. 

He will be based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. 

American Concrete Institute’s 

first VP from the Middle East 

In his new role, he will provide a high 

level of management expertise in order 

to ensure that each business function is 

providing the support that is required. 

Prior to joining AlMansoori, Kamel 

worked as a Section Leader & Contract 

Job Officer for ADMA/ OPCO. 

Julian Ford Joins Altaaqa Global 

Altaaqa Global, a leading global provider of 

large-scale temporary power services, has 

appointed energy industry veteran, Julian 

Ford as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), 

effective July 1, 2015. As the company’s 

CCO, Ford’s remit is to ensure that Altaaqa 

Global achieves revenue growth targets and 

overall commercial success, and to facilitate 

the formulation and implementation of 

innovative global commercial strategies. 

Ford was instrumental in taking the rental 

power concept to different regions across 

the globe, including Middle East and Africa, 

South America, East Asia and South Asia. 

“The role temporary power has evolved 

from being a local, short-term, transactional 

activity to a major global project-based 

industry,” said Ford, adding that it is no longer 

Eng. Khaled Awad, Chairman and 

Founder for the Lebanon-based Advanced 

Construction Technology Services (ACTS), 

has recently been elected to serve as Vice 

President for the American Concrete 

Institute (ACI), the world authority and 

resource on concrete technology. Awad, 

who will serve a two-year term, is the first 

member from the Middle East to assume 

the key post. An active member of ACI, 

Awad is Chair of ACI Subcommittee 601- 

E, Concrete Construction Sustainability 

Assessor, and serves on the Task Group on 

Managing Translations of ACI Products 

and Services, Certification Programs 

Committee, and the International 

Certification Subcommittee, of which 

he is a past Chair. He is a member of ACI 

Committee 130, Sustainability of Concrete. 

uncommon to see power plants of 100MW 

and up being rented on a longer-term basis. 

“My vision is for Altaaqa Global to lead the 

evolution of the industry, and to be recognised 

as the premier source of innovative technical 

solutions and the highest level of customer 

service and support,” added Ford. 

Point of View 

Alain Flausch, Secretary-General, UITP 

(International Association of Public 

Transport) 

There were many questions asked 

and answered in Milan by our excellent 

cast of panelists, who came from the 

most varied selection of backgrounds 

we have ever featured at a Congress. 

How to finance public transport? 

What to do about the arrival of new 

mobility providers, the sharing economy, 

new sustainability expectations, 

new energy crises, new vehicles, and 

the rise of transport-related mobile 

technology developers? Not to mention 

the customer’s new position at the 

centre of our operations? Getting policy 

makers to recognise the health impact 

of sustainable public transport when 

they plan their cities is also on our 

list of priority topics for the coming 

months and years. Getting the business 

community on board to help finance 

the transport infrastructure they will 

benefit from is also paramount. 

In Milan we were able to focus in 

depth on some of the policies that are 

leading to an increase in the market 

share of public transport in cities around 

the world – this includes measures to 

stop urban sprawl as well as reduce 

citizens’ need to own their own car. 

As a reflection of the global importance 

of our Congress, we’ve renamed it the 

Global Public Transport Summit, a name 

that will debut in Montréal in 2017. 

(Excerpted from UTIP’s monthly 

newsletter UTIP Direct) 


CONSULTANTS & 

ARCHITECTS CUP 2015 

Not only is the Golf Day a great day out, it also represents an ideal 

opportunity to network with potential clients and entertain existing ones, 

while giving you a chance to get to know the people who make up the 

consultant and architect industry. Whether you’re part of the industry or 

if you provide services to it, it’s an opportunity not to be missed! 

The 2015 Consultants & Architects Cup is an invite-only, free-to-attend event for 

consultants and architects. We offer various sponsorship opportunities for those 

companies that provide services to the construction industry. All sponsorship 

opportunities include a free day on the golf course - you might even call it working! 

29 OCTOBER 2015 

EMIRATES GOLF CLUB 

For sponsorship opportunities please contact 

Raz Islam 

+971 50 451 8213 

raz.islam@cpimediagroup.com 

SPONSORS 

PRIZE SPONSOR

EVENT 

COMING SOON 

POWER-GEN MIDDLE EAST 

4-6 OCTOBER 2015, Abu Dhabi 

he 13th annual POWER-GEN 

Middle East Conference 

T 

and Exhibition is set to 

take place at the Abu Dhabi 

National Exhibition Centre 

(ADNEC) alongside 

WaterWorld Middle East. 

HE. Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, 

Minister of Energy of the UAE, will formally 

launch the conference and exhibition with 

an official ribbon cutting ceremony and a 

keynote address on the opening day. 

Nigel Blackaby, Director of Conferences, 

PennWell corporation will be giving the 

introduction and opening remarks. 

This year, attendees will have the choice of 19 

strategic and technical Conference Sessions as well 

as two new components on the exhibition floor – a 

dedicated Exhibitor Presentation Theatre, which 

will feature live exhibitor demonstrations, and a new 

Business Matchmaking Service. The event will offer 

a unique platform to meet more than 3,000 industry 

professionals from over 70 different countries. 

Feraye Gurel, Event Director, said: “In the 

GCC, power generating capacity will need to 

rise by an estimated 64GW to 176.5GW by 2020, 

requiring an investment of $40-45 bn. So far, 

75 GW of renewable energy projects worth 

$200bn are already in the pipeline, making the 

region a global power player in the sector. 

“Under the theme ‘Sharing Technology 

Innovation’, the 2015 edition of POWER-GEN 

Middle East will address key issues affecting 

the region’s electricity market and provide 

pioneering and practical solutions to expand 

energy efficiency, technological excellence 

and implementation of smart solutions 

tailored to the region’s power industry.” 

Contact: Sue McDermott 

Tel: +44 992 656 632 

Email: suemc@pennwell.com 

www.power-gen-middleeast.com 

NATRANS ARABIA 2015 

25-27 OCTOBER 2015, Abu Dhabi 

he GCC’s integrated 

transport strategy 

T 

will be the focus of 

NATRANS Arabia 2015, 

a first-of-its-kind event 

piecing together the Gulf 

region’s transportation 

infrastructure with rail, road, and maritime 

projects which is worth an estimated $422bn 

and completed within the next five years. 

The conference-led exhibition is being 

held in partnership with the UAE Federal 

Transportation Authority – Land and 

Maritime and held under the patronage of 

HE Dr Abdulla Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister 

of Public Works and Chairman of the Federal 

Transport Authority - Land and Marine 

NATRANS Arabia, which takes place 

at ADNEC, consists of three distinct 

conference streams – the 6th Middle East Rail 

Opportunities Summit; Middle East Maritime 

Conference; Middle East Road Conference. 

Top level transport delegations representing 

the UAE including government bodies such as the 

Department of Transport, The Road Transport 

Authority, Etihad Rail, Abu Dhabi Ports, DP 

World and the Ministry of Public Works. 

Contact: Alex Heuff 

Tel: +971 4 609 1588 

Email: alex.heuff@fleminggulf.com 

www.natrans-arabia.com 

Mark your diary... 

MENA RAIL AND METRO 

SUMMIT 2015 

5 – 7 OCTOBER, 2015 

DUBAI 

The 11th edition of the summit will 

have a focused agenda exploring 

key themes and issues regarding 

projected rail plans in the region. 

Contact: MEED events 

Tel: +971 4 818 0217 

Email: meedevents@meed.com 

www.meedrailprojects.com 

SMART GRIDS AND SMART 

METERS SUMMIT 

28 – 29 OCTOBER, 2015 

DUBAI 

The summit will focus on 

the implementation of 

smart grids to enhance the 

use of energy efficient and 

renewable technologies, M2M 

technology and sustainable 

technology-led solutions. 

Contact: Anna Canning 

Tel: +971 4 609 1563 

Email: anna.canning@ 

fleminggulf.com 

PROJEX AFRICA 

2 – 5 NOVEMBER, 2015 

CAIRO 

Projex Africa and MS Marmomacc 

+ Samoter Africa & Middle East 

are two trade fairs dedicated 

to excellence in the sectors 

of marble, natural stone, 

construction machinery, 

innovative materials and 

sustainable building systems. 

Contact: Veronafiere 

International Department 

Tel: +39 045 8298 800 

Email: vfi@veronafiere.it 

www.veronafiere.it 


INFRASTRUCTURE MILESTONES 

#018 Qatar’s Mega Reservoirs 

The ambitious project, involving the construction of the world’s largest reinforced 

concrete reservoirs, aims to provide seven days of strategic water storage 

atar’s $4.6bn 

Water Security 

Q 

Mega Reservoirs 

Project, which 

the world first 

came to know 

of in 2012, 

aims to boost the Gulf state’s 

potable water storage from two 

days to seven days, through a 

network of new as well as existing 

and future secondary reservoirs. 

The project’s significance was 

recently summed up by Doha Bank 

Group CEO Dr R Seetharaman, 

who noted that it “will form the 

bedrock upon which Qatar’s water 

security initiatives will be built.” 

Last month, Doha Bank signed a 

milestone deal to finance one of the 

construction packages of the project. 

The Water Security Mega 

Reservoir Project, being developed 

by Qatar General Electricity & 

Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA), 

involves the construction of five 

potable water mega-reservoir sites 

and an interconnecting network of 

large diameter water pipelines. Each 

reservoir site will ultimately comprise 

up to nine reservoir modules and 

occupy an area of more than one sq. 

km. The sites are located at Umm 

Birka, Umm Slal, Rawdat Rashed, 

Abu Nakhla and Al Thumama areas. 

HE the Prime Minister and 

Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdulla 

bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani laid 

the foundation stone of the project 

at Al Mazrouah on May 12, 2015. 

The first phase, which is currently 

under implementation, will provide 

seven days of storage for water 

demand forecasted up to 2026. 

It will deliver storage capacity of 

about 2,300m gallons of water in 

24 massive concrete reservoirs 

and 480km of buried ductile iron 

Fast facts 

Launched by: 

KAHRAMAA 

Total cost: 

approx: $4.6bn 

Total number 

of reservoirs: 

40 

Ultimate 

storage 

capacity: 

3,800m gallons 

Forecast of 

pipes needed: 

510,000 tonnes 

pipelines with a diameter up to 1.6m. 

The second phase of the project, 

which will be implemented after 2020, 

will include construction of additional 

pipelines and 40 new reservoirs within 

the five sites to achieve a total storage 

capacity of about 3,800m gallons. 

A JV of Consolidated Contracting 

Group and Teyseer Contracting is 

executing Packages A (Umm Birka) 

and C (Al Thumama). The contractors 

for Package B (Umm Slal) is HBK 

Contracting, Package D (Rawdat 

Rashed) is Leighton Contracting Qatar, 

and Package E (Abu Nakhla) is a JV of 

China Gezhouba Group and Burhan. 

Local banks have played an 

important role in financing the 

project with Al Khalij Commercial 

Bank extending finance for the 

transmission pipelines and Package 

C construction works. Last month, 

Doha Bank approved a $600m 

financing deal for Package D. 


PRODUCED BY 

WORLD 

IEQ 

FORUM 

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION 

5 - 6 October 2015 

Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights, UAE 

The World IEQ Forum is an earnest attempt at fostering discussions on the critical questions in front of planners and policy-makers in the 

region. The Forum is an extension of the continual and robust editorial coverage on IEQ-related issues in Climate Control Middle East 

magazine, published by CPI Industry. Though the coverage has addressed the various issues through an HVAC prism, the Forum is broadbased 

and all-inclusive, keeping in mind the broader issues of good health, well-being, productivity and happiness. 

KEY 

TOPICS 

SECTOR 

FOCUS 

Implementation strategies based on vision documents 

towards health and well-being in the GCC region and 

global policies 

UAE’s National Strategy and Action Plan for 

Environmental Health 

Qatar National Vision 2030 

Dubai Plan 2021 

World Health Organisation 

in the 

region: Policy, regulatory and enforcement perspectives 

The public sector’s leadership role in driving IEQ 

change in the region, with a balanced approach towards 

 

Multiple parameters impacting 

health, academic performance and overall growth and 

development of the student community in the region… 

culmination of an editorial campaign 

Towards Dubai EXPO 2020 and the 2022 FIFA 

World Cup… the role of IEQ in enhancing the visitor 

experience 

Balancing economic growth with IEQ aspirations 

towards better health and well-being 

Combating outdoor pollution 

The critical importance of commissioning and retrocommissioning 

for good IEQ 

Bursting the myth that good 

IEQ is a costly proposition 

IEQ in the hospitality 

industry 

Healthcare innovations in design, construction, 

installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance 

ENDORSED BY 

SILVER SPONSORS 

HEALTH MINISTERS’ COUNCIL 

FOR THE COOPERATION 

COUNCIL STATES 

EXHIBITORS 

SUPPORTING ASSOCIATIONS 

STRATEGIC HVACR 

RECRUITMENT PARTNER 

MEDIA PARTNERS 

MY Solution 

Info.com 

FOR EDITORIAL-RELATED QUERIES: 

FOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: 

B Surendar 

 

 

 

FOR MARKETING-RELATED QUERIES: 

Ruqiya Shariff 

 

T: +971 4 375 6838 

 

 

 

Kathleen Rebello 

 

T: +971 4 375 6843 

 

 

 

Frédéric Paillé 

Managing Director & Associate Publisher 

 

 

Anup Dominic 

 

 

 

Rao Ali Akbar 

Sales Manager 

 

 

In North America, contact: 

Kanika Saxena 

 

 

In Asia (except India), contact: 

Judy Wang 

 

 

 

www.worldieqforum.com

I NEED A REPAIR SOLUTION 

THAT IS DURABLE EVEN UNDER 

SEVERE MARINE CONDITIONS. 

Marine structures frequently fail to resist the harshness of their saltwater environments. Since 

repair often has to be done under difficult conditions, a specific and versatile repair strategy is 

always required. Our Master Builders Solutions experts understand your problems and work 

with you to develop the most efficient, appropriate, and durable repair strategy for your 

situation. Either together or on their own, MasterEmaco and MasterProtect are the best 

solutions to repair defects and prevent corrosion. At BASF, we offer cost-efficient and durable 

repair solutions for all types of reinforced concrete structures. 

For more information, go to www.master-builders-solutions.basf.ae

Infrastructure September issue

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?