Airports throughout the Middle East are in for a boom over the next few years with an investment inflow of nearly 30 billion Emirati dirhams (eight billion dollars) headed their way. The funds are intended for the construction of new airports as well as various development and renovation projects in existing civil aviation facilities.
Nearly 70 percent of the total funds will be invested in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Some $3.26 billion would be directed towards the expansion of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Fujairah airports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), reported Gulf News.
Another one billion dollars were allocated for the development of the Qatari international airport in Doha, while a Dh150 million investment was assigned for the construction of a new terminal in Muscat’s Seeb International Airport.
Civil aviation authorities in Saudi Arabia will invest $750 million in an overhaul and terminal construction project at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. The Emirate of Kuwait will devote $270 million to the installation of a new airspace control system.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Egypt intends to allocate a total of $820 million for development and expansion schemes in the Cairo and Sharm Al-Sheikh international airports as well as for the construction of six new domestic airports.
Libya has set aside $810 million of the renovation of its Tripoli, Benghazi and Sirte airports. Its neighbor, Algeria, will undertake a $300 million expansion project in its Algiers International Airport. Morocco plans to spend $125 million on enlarging the Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca, while the government of Tunisia earmarked nearly $250 million for a new airport in Enfidha. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
