EXCLUSIVE: PM firm claims City of Arabia walkout

The US$5bn City of Arabia is allegedly now without a project management firm

The future of City of Arabia, one of the megaprojects scheduled for Dubailand, is in a state of confusion following revelations that the project may have lost its project management firm.

A source at a company working on the project told Construction Week that Hill International had quit working on City of Arabia.

A spokesperson for Hill International independently confirmed that the company was no longer on the roster for the project.

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FEATURED COMMENT Hi, can any one advise the name and contact of the person incharge from the developer side. Have the developer assined n   2 Comments Read more comments »

“We were the project manager but we recently received notice from the developers that they would be rewarding someone else,” said Hill International marketing co-ordinator Ola Al Gharbi. “It was from both sides because we were not satisfied with their work or treatment.” Al Gharbi declined to provide any further information.

However, City of Arabia developers Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group contradicted the Hill International version of events in a statement issued to Construction Week, saying “we enjoy a strong working relationship with Hill International and are currently revisiting our contract with the company with the intention that they continue as project managers for City of Arabia.”

The statement also confirmed P&T’s ongoing role as lead consultants but said that some services were being drawn back in-house “because of the level of professionalism and expertise we have within [Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group]”.

No-one from the Galadari Group was available to comment.

According to the developers, around 1,500 workers are currently constructing Mall of Arabia and Wadi Walk within the US$5 billion project.