The level of hardware and tools that will be purchased by builders, building trades, consumers and maintenance companies in the Gulf will exceed $720 million in 2003. Estimates of Dubai spending alone is forecasted to touch $40 billion by 2005, predicts Managing Partner of EPOC Messe Frankfurt, Geoff Dickinson.
It is also estimated that a large percentage of construction expenditures will be spent on landscaping the emirate and its extensive coastline. Tourism has also been set at 11 percent per year and residents have been known to spend considerable sums on landscaping and irrigating their gardens as well as on outdoor living items such as garden furniture and barbecues.
Local market demand for building products is growing rapidly as public and private sectors are floating tenders for the construction of diversified commercial, residential and institutional buildings. The construction industry is one of the most active sectors of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) economy.
Major public sector projects in the UAE include airport developments, road building and the expansion of utilities. Private sector development is visible in the development of new shopping malls, hotels, apartment blocks and office towers. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
