Oman smelter evaluating bids
Oman’s Sohar Aluminium Company has said it is evaluating two bids from international companies to build a new $2.5 billion smelter, which will further boost aluminium production in the Gulf Arab region.
The company said in a statement that it received bids from US firm Bechtel and a joint venture of Canada’s SNC Lavalin with Murray & Roberts Engineering of South Africa.
It said work on the plant was expected to start in the fourth quarter of this year and that the 650,000 tonnes-per-year smelter in Sohar was scheduled to start production in 2008.
Sohar Aluminium Company is a joint venture of state-owned Oman Oil Co and Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority of the UAE, each owning 40 per cent. Canada’s Alcan Inc holds the remaining stake.
EISF doubling capacity
Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Iron and Steel Factory (EISF) is planning to double its production capacity to one million tonnes of concrete reinforcing bars by the end of this year, according to a senior official from the company. The investment in the new unit is estimated at around Dh500 million ($136 million).
The design capacity of the existing unit is 500,000 tonnes of concrete reinforcing bars per year. Currently EISF supplies Burj Dubai, Palm Islands, Dubai International Airport, Dubai Marina, Abu Dhabi Emirates Palace and Abu Dhabi Corniche expansion projects.
The ongoing construction boom has prompted several steel producers in the region to raise capacity.
Cement firm planned
A soon-to-be established Saudi cement firm plans to build a multimillion-dollar factory to help feed Saudi Arabia’s oil-driven construction boom, one of the company’s founding directors said.
The Riyadh Cement Company (RCC) signed a $17million turnkey contract with China’s Sinoma to construct a 1.6 million tonnes-per-year clinker in Riyadh, RCC executive committee member Nasser Akeel said. The total cost of the project will be SR1.1 billion ($293.3 million), and the plant is due to start production within 26 months.
Demand for cement is now high in Saudi Arabia. Buoyed by record oil revenues, the government is spending heavily on new infrastructure projects including roads and schools.
