Are we maturing?

Conrad Egbert, Editor

Last week saw a lot happening in the construction industry. From our overwhelmingly successful Construction Week Saudi Arabia Conference in Jeddah that saw more delegates in attendance than was expected, to numerous contracts being signed away to hungry contractors.

It’s almost like being back in the old days (a year ago) when we were having trouble fitting in all the new project launches into one weekly issue. Almost!

Oman’s Ministry of National Economy said it awarded construction contracts worth US $1.55 billion (OMR598 million) including civil engineering work at Muscat International Airport, road works that are part of Al Duqm masterplan and the first phase of Sohar Airport.

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The UAE’s largest private developer Damac also announced a raft of projects, mostly in Business Bay, worth a total of $544 million.

In addition to all of this, the latest news coming out of Saudi Arabia is that it will need around one million new homes over the next five years. This puts the kingdom in a leading position in residential construction.

Some statistics that popped into my inbox may be of interest: Saudi Arabia has a population of 25 million people, which is growing at 2.5% a year. That means it will double in 28 years.

If that’s not impressive enough then consider this: 40% of Saudi nationals are under the age of 20 and 70% under 30 – and they’re going to want homes at some point. Too much speculation into the future? Then here’s a more current situation: 65% of families in Saudi Arabia don’t own a home at the moment.

Of course, only time will tell how things will turn out, but what is evident as of now is that the positives coming out of this economic downturn are making the regional market a little more mature and less icon-crazy. Developers are now looking at building what is needed, rather than what will create an impression.

Low cost housing is broadly being considered by all and could possibly even be the new wave of development mania to hit the region, along with the construction of more office and mixed use property.

And since KSA is in the air, I thought I’d mention not to forget to grab a copy of our Saudi Arabia special next week. Ma’a salama.