Hi $300bn worth of rail and metro projects announced or under way in the Middle East.

Hi $300bn worth of rail and metro projects announced or under way in the Middle East.

The annual MEED MENA Rail & Metro Summit was told this morning that a total of $300bn worth of rail and metro projects are under way or planned in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region.

“Every single country in the MENA region has rail project ambitions,” MEED Projects’ director of analysis Ed James said.

“Not all of these projects will go ahead, but the figure is indicative of the scale of what is happening.”

James said Saudi Arabia had the largest rail project pipeline in the region with over $100bn, including the Riyadh Dammam High-Speed Rail, which is currently under study, along with the Eastern Province Municipality – Dammam Metro. Qatar boasts a rail and metro project pipeline valued at $40bn, followed by the UAE with $30bn. Across the region, the other big investments will be seen in Egypt, Iran, Kuwait and Oman.

Meanwhile, a keynote speaker at the summit says delivering rail and metro megaprojects in the Middle East presents unique challenges.

“A lot of the projects in the region are aiming for completion in the period to 2022,” Fluor (UAE) programme manager Dago Beek said in a keynote speech. “2020 is a huge challenge whether it is for projects or rolling stock.”

“These are strategic projects where co-operation with all stakeholders is required,” he said.

“We need confirmation of stakeholder standards and regulations. We need the required drawings for existing and proposed services. And we need to deal with overlapping transport corridors.”

“We need transport safety laws and multi-modal regulations,” Beek said.

“Right of way and land acquisition is an issue. Every piece of land is owned and getting alignment straight is a huge challenge.”

“We should move in a more professional manner when dealing with systems assurance,” Beek said. “And we need to be more professional when we are dealing with communication.”

Beek said that a key technical challenge is dealing with sand dunes drifting across the alignment of railways passing through deserts.

“There is no one solution to this challenge,” he said.

A possible technical solution brought forward at the summit was the use of viaducts of about 3 metres in height upon which railways would run.

“There is no single solution to this challenge,” Fluor (UAE) programme manager Dago Beek said a question and answer session after his opening keynote speech at the summit.

Fluor Corporation and Parsons Brinckerhoff are project managers on the $7bn Saudi Landbridge rail project which will connect Jeddah with Riyadh and the Saudi capital with the Gulf coast. Beek said the final full alignment of the project is not yet fixed, but it will include a stretch from Jeddah to the Riyadh area. The possible alignment of a link between Riyadh and the Gulf coast is now under review.

The MEED MENA Rail & Metro Summit is sponsored by Fluor, ZTE, Louis Berger, Vossloh Middle East, Bechtel, Drake & Scull, Autodesk, Hill International, Parsons and Thales.

Hi Meetings key for decision making:

HI Hi Meetings key for decision making:

Are you finding it tough to make good decisions at work or is your job on stake for taking a bad call?

Well, you could help yourself by doing something important – conducting meetings.

A Bayt.com survey, which was released yesterday (Monday, September 29), reveals that Mena employees consider meetings as a great way to make important decisions. A majority of the respondents (80 per cent) says meetings often have agendas distributed in advance. While 88 per cent claims that they tend to start on the scheduled time, 52 per cent says they normally end on time, too.

While 79 per cent agrees that key decisions are recorded and shared with all attendees, another 79 per cent adds that specific people are assigned to each task and they are responsible for carrying it out, it adds.

Bayt.com’s vice-president of sales, Suhail Al Masri, says, besides helping to make right decisions, meetings also ensure engagement across all employees. “What we recommend is to always distribute a meeting agenda in advance, start the meeting on time and finish the meeting on time. It is also important to invite only the right people, create an action list [based on] discussion points and hold people responsible for it. This establishes meetings as a key contact point for all staff [members].”

The Meetings in the Middle East Workplace poll also reveals that more than 75 per cent of executives believes that people behave appropriately during meetings, allowing them to take key decisions fast, which are also recorded and executed effectively.

Hi Events; The Big 5 Kuwait.

Hi Events; The Big 5 Kuwait.

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Hi Understanding Regional Construction!!!

Hi Understanding Regional Construction!!!

Hammam Industries & Co. Project Supply & Installation of Ventilation Equipment for Construction of Samsung manufacturing facility "Highlight Feature:" 

Samsung signed a memorandum of understanding with the governor of Beni Suef on Thursday to build its first factory in the Middle East and Africa. The factory is planned to be fully operated in 2013.

By the end of 2016, the factory would be producing 2 million TV sets and screens per year for both the local market and for export to the rest of Africa and the Middle East, according to Samsung.

The factory would extend over an area of ​​366,000 square meters in the industrial area of Kom Abu Rady.

The EGP 1.7 billion factory will be used to manufacture 

television screens.