Expectations of a stream of orders flowing from huge investments made by the Saudi public and private sectors have prompted GMA Steel Industries (Starco) to expand existing facilities and create new ones.

Jeddah-based GMA Steel is building a new plant in Yanbu with capability to handle 3,000 tonnes of steel for making a range of products required by power and desalination plants, refineries, petrochemical facilities, power transmission firms and telecom projects.

At its existing plants in Jeddah and Dammam, a four-fold expansion is ongoing to raise capacity at the two sites to a total of 10,000 tonnes. The new facilities and expansions will be completed by this year’s end.

GMA project engineer Mohammed Siraj said large-scale infrastructure expansions and hectic industrialisation in Saudi Arabia had led to heightened demand for a range of services required by EPC contractors. The new facilities GMA Industries was constructing were a direct result of that demand and would help the company to cater to project requirements more substantially and over a broader area.

'We have a growing number of customers in Yanbu. The new plant will make it possible for us to deal expeditiously with projects in that area rather than have men and material shipped from our Jeddah facility some 400 km away,' said Siraj.

GMA Steel Industries operates under the Starco brand and has been set up by India’s Bintel Group. The company is operating in Saudi Arabia under a licence issued by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia).

The Saudi facilities are engaged in the supply of steel and the design, estimation, fabrication and erection of heavy, medium and light steel structures. The product range includes storage tanks, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, pipe modules, telecom towers, cranes, stairs, handrails and gratings, conveyor systems, mechanical spare parts, water and gas pipe lines, trusses and beams, The company performs industrial maintenance and has competence in setting up plants across a host of sectors.

Major clients

'Our services come under major engineering disciplines and we contribute our professional expertise and experience to the projects,' said Siraj who listed his major clients as Alstom, the Bin Laden Group, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Carlo Gavazi, Archirodon, Saudi Chemical Company, Tetra Pak, Zelan Berhad, Sabic, Doka and Ansaldo.

GMA Steel Industries is currently involved in Shoaiba power plant Phases 1, 2 and 3 where it is delivering steel structures for boilers and for Balance of Plant with contractor Alstom Power. The project value to the fabricator is more than $70 million and supplies will be completed by the end of 2011.

The company is also in the initial stages of fabricating and supplying steel structures for a boiler and a turbine hall for the Rabigh Power Plant. It expects other assignments on the project in subsequent months. The value of work it is currently assigned by Doosan Heavy Industries is SR5 million, but the local company expects orders to build up to SR30 million. The project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2012.

Working in tandem with the Bin Laden Group, the company is supplying steel structures for the Grand Mosque in the Haram project. The value for work currently assigned is SR10 million but the company is expecting additional work in course of time.

For the Suqaiq IWPP, GMA Steel Industries is doing steel work for a turbine hall and for adjuncts to a steam turbine. Completion time is the end of 2012 and the contract for the work has been awarded by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The value to GMA Steel Industries is $7 million.

Last year the company installed steel structures for sea water intake and the outfall at a Marafiq plant. The order was granted by Hyundai Heavy Industries.