Pushing On

Construction of sahara livings is 15% complete and substructure and superstructure work is ongoing.
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World Wide Project Management and its Sahara Livings development prove that, even after a tough year, Dubai’s construction industry will continue to progress.

As 2009 unfolded, the confidence industry experts had in Dubai’s construction sector took a few knocks. Projects were halted, if not cancelled, and then came the news that Dubai World, whose subsidiary is construction giant Nakheel, would seek delays on billions of dollars of debt obligations, leaving many suppliers discouraged from investing in the emirate.

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But, one construction company that still has faith in the troubled city is World Wide Project Management, the client
representative for a whopping 19 projects worth US $1 billion (AED3.7 billion) under construction and progressing in Dubai.

One such project is Sahara Livings, a residential development consisting of 84 villas spread across an area of 18,116m² in Dubai Industrial City.

Reem Dubai Contracting was given 548 days to complete the project after being awarded the main construction contract in February 2009 and, so far, 15% of the development has been completed and 78 villas are currently under construction.

“Right now we are working on substructure and superstructure. In four months time, all the superstructure of the villas will be completed. We have also started block works and internal plastering on some villas,” says World Wide Project Management managing director Abdel Wahab Talaat.

Infrastructure, including narrow roads, internal MEP works and internal lighting, is being completed by Reem Dubai in parallel with the superstructure work and is set to be finished within six months.

And, so far, superstructure work for 40 of the two-storey villas has been completed. “We will soon pick up the pace because once you are above ground everything progresses fairly quickly,” Talaat adds.

But, in such troubled times, how has Sahara Livings been able to continue without delays? World Wide Project Management, which supervises and monitors the delivery of the project, believes the answer boils down to low construction costs.

“We have an advantage of low prices of materials,” says Talaat. “We are seizing this opportunity by continuing with
our projects.”

As a result of the reduction in material prices, World Wide Project Management saved the client, Sahara Living, around $1 million in construction costs before mobilisation began on March 1.