With its new galvanising plant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, coming on stream recently, Al-Babtain has once again stamped its presence as a leading player in the manufacture and supply of galvanised steel products in the region.

“The new facility – which will add to the capacities of Al-Babtain’s two existing plants – will offer hot dip galvanising services to steel products and boost the group’s annual galvanising capacity to 72,000 tonnes per year (tpy),” said factories manager Reda Hamed.
“The new plant will also make it possible to have double-dip galvanising of sections up to 15.5 m long, 2.8 m deep and 2.25 m wide,” he adds.
A member of the American Galvanisers Association, Al-Babtain has been serving steel fabrication markets, both locally and internationally for quite a while. “This has been possible due to the excellent customer support, state-of-the-art infrastructure and quality results that can match international standards,” says sales and marketing manager Tamer Kalo.
Recently, the company won several projects in the kingdom reinforcing its presence as a leader in its sector.
The SR21-million ($5.6 million) contract for Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, due for completion in July 2006, involved the design, manufacture and supply of octagonal-shaped hot-dipped galvanised steel poles of 15, 16 and 18 m of height and a voltage rating of 13.8 kV. This project is a major breakthrough for Al-Babtain as it becomes the first supplier of power distribution steel poles to Saudi Aramco. Until now, Saudi Aramco has been using wooden poles for power distribution in all its locations.
“The fact is that we are a leading provider of transmission and distribution products with a vast experience of executing similar projects in domestic and international locations, and our excellent design and prompt delivery capabilities have stood us in good stead to bag this contract,” says area manager Mansour Al-Babtain.
Al-Babtain has also bagged a few projects for the supply of structural steel – a SR10 million contract for Dywidag for the supply of structural steel at Yanbu Cement Company, a SR7 million contract from Hadeed (Saudi Iron and Steel Company) for its expansion project at Jubail and a SR2 million contract with Nesma and Partner Contracting Company for the supply of structural steel at PDH Al Fasel Petrochemical Plant project in Yanbu.
The Dywidag contract, due for completion by the end of the year, involves the engineering, manufacturing and erection of heavy structural steel, silos and bridges for the new cement mill 3 in line 4 of Yanbu Cement Plant, while the Hadeed contract – expected to be completed by April 2006 – involves the manufacture and supply of platforms, heat protection sheets, pedestals, pipe bridges, structure ladle furnace, dust protection walls, light structures, elevator structures, walkways and cable bridges, says sales manager Wael Hassan.
The Yanbu petrochemical contract, due for completion by January 2006, involves the designing, manufacturing and supply of CCR Structural tower, which consists of three modules, each 7.5 m wide, 12 m long and 18 m in height. In addition to the main structure, Al Babtain also supplies grating, handrails and staircases.
“This contract adds to Al-Babtain’s impressive track record in carrying out prestigious, architecturally complex projects,” said Hassan. Also in the company’s list is a project to illuminate the Ajjyad main road in Makkah.
The project, which involves the design, manufacture and supply of 23 high masts – each 30 m in height with a motorised raising and lowering system – can support up to six floodlights of 1000 W and is due for completion later this month (November).
The services of Al-Babtain have also been called upon for testing the structural strength of transmission monopoles for the Senayeh Project of Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).
Due to the complex technical requirement of the project, the company had to upgrade its testing station by designing upgradation of girders, which enhanced the testing capacity by 350 per cent.