A new melamine factory that Danube Building Materials recently opened in Jeddah may have to be expanded soon as new projections show that Saudi Arabia is in the midst of a big construction boom, the company says.

Danube’s new melamine factory opened in late September in the Um Salaam area of Jeddah with capacity to produce 5,800 sheets daily of melamine, raw medium density fibreboard (MDF) and finished melamine-coated MDF. Storage is available at the plant for 80,000 melamine, 10,000 raw MDF and 10,000 finished melamine-coated MDF sheets.

“The current production of this plant will be able to cater to the demands of the Jeddah market only. But considering the recent report by Deloitte Middle East entitled ‘GCC Powers of Construction’ which reveals Saudi Arabia’s 38 per cent share of the total construction projects in the region, we will be increasing our production capacity by at least four to six times in the coming months,” said Danube Building Materials founder and chairman Rizwan Sajan.

“The report also shares that the kingdom has over $624 billion worth of current and planned projects for 2011. With increased production we are planning to export to the Bahrain market as well.”

Sajan said Jeddah was selected because of its strategic location and easy access to all the regions of the kingdom.  “Moreover we had started our Saudi operation from Jeddah, so we have an in-depth knowledge of the Jeddah markets. Jeddah also has our main office for the entire Saudi Arabia operations. Riyadh, for instance, does not have a port.”

Another new Danube melamine factory will become functional at Techno Park in Dubai in December. “If we see more demand we might open another factory,” said Sajan.

Danube operates from its head office in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai and has 31 showrooms across the Middle East and India including two in Saudi Arabia.