They Just Keep On Coming

Don't tell me about any more projects or tenders...Dubai contractor

Middle East Economic Digest, 12-18 May 2006, p37

MEED is one of the most authoritative economic and business news sources published today and it offers an invaluable look at the whirlwind of activity taking place in the Arabian Gulf. The construction industry is the focus of attention in a recent special report. In Adapting to the Market the point is made that in order to attend to the huge demand for contractors in the current market, developers will need to and, in fact, are already devising new models of productivity.

In short the tender/bidding paradigm is being replaced with an approach which relies on a broader and deeper level of cooperation between developer and contractor. The details provided in the article should be of interest to the those involved in the industry, whether from the perspective of builder, contractor, buyer or observer.

On the one hand it is clear that the Gulf, and Dubai in particular, face significant challenges in bringing to reality their ambitious building schemes. On the other hand, the report evaluates positively Dubai's ability to meet these challenges.

Dubai--whatever defines this small city/state--has been in recent years, remarkably innovative. This trait precedes the current construction phenomenon. One might point to the erection of the Dubai World Trade Center in 1979 as an early milestone or predictor of what Dubai would later become. Another important milestone was the commissioning of the Jebel Ali Free Zone and Port in the mid-1980's. Yet, a third was the development of what would eventually become the Dubai Marina masterplan in the late 1990's.

These three projects represented not only innovations but also powerful trendsetters which set into motion economic and social forces which would become self-sustaining catalysts for other schemes. The result would be the transformation of not only Dubai but of all of the Arabian Gulf, along a model set by Dubai.

Such was the success of these initiatives that more would follow, like DSF (the Dubai Shopping Festival), Emirates Airlines, the Palm islands, etc. At each stage along the way there were challenges, perhaps no less significant in relative terms to the challenges facing the construction industry today.

The exasperation in a construction industry operator's plea for no more projects and tenders is telling of the current stresses that exist in the industry. But this is Dubai--a place which is at once unique and has a history of being innovative. The odds are that it will succeed at adapting to the market.

In a related discussion, Construction Crunch looks more closely at the challenges facing the construction industy.

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