Danube to strengthen market leadership with mid-2011 opening of AED 50 million retail facility in Qatar

Danube Building Materials, the leader in construction, building materials and shop fitting industries, has revealed its plans to secure key opportunities in Qatar World Cup projects signaling the start of the company’s strategic move to consolidate presence in the country in the next five months. The move also complements Danube’s opening of an AED 50 million retail facility in Qatar in the middle of this year. Qatar is currently investing billions of dollars in the development of key tourism based infrastructure like new hotels, dining facilities and football stadiums for the month-long international tournament in 2022.

Following this development, UAE contractors have also expressed their interest in playing a major role the growing number of Qatar projects - Danube has maintained strong relations with these key contractors and is expected to play a major role once contracts are secured and executed. Danube reported an AED 1.25 billion turnover in 2010 signifying a 25 per cent increase in profit from 2009. 

The move to open a new retail facility in Qatar is part of the company’s plans of investing more than AED 200 million in an expansion initiative over the next two years. Once opened, the new Qatar branch will be the company’s fifth destination in the Gulf region. Danube, which has been in the construction and building materials industry for 17 years, has a total of over 25 global retail facilities - 17 in the UAE, three in India, two in Oman and Bahrain and one in Saudi Arabia. Financial experts have pegged Qatar’s construction activity will run up to USD 86.5 billion worth of projects - which includes nine spectacular stadiums, the extensive renovation of three existing stadiums worth USD 3 billion. Infrastructure works over the next five years will also cover USD 25 billion worth of rail projects within Qatar to link internal host cities, as well as improving connections to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Another USD 20 billion will be spent on roads, USD 11 billion on a new airport and USD 5.5 billion on a new port. 

“These are exciting times for Qatar’s construction industry. The country’s hosting of one of the world’s most watched sporting event means billions of dollars in new and existing construction projects,” said Rizwan Sajan, Chairman, Danube Building Materials. “We are very upbeat about this forecasted growth and increase in projects, prompting us to create a stronger presence in the country by opening a new retail facility in mid-2011 and eyeing our participation in different project undertakings. Aside from Qatar, we are also moving to expand our presence in Saudi Arabia - over the next few months both Saudi Arabia and Qatar are expected to witness rapid pace development as a result of the coming World Cup.” 

Danube started as a building materials supplier seventeen years ago - later introducing its version of a one-stop-shop concept called ‘Danube Buildmart’ in 2009 to target a diverse retail segment. The company has recently added 10,000 new products in its portfolio for Buildmart to meet housing needs, bringing its total product portfolio to more than 25,000 products. 

“Danube is upbeat on the region’s continuous move towards development - a strong indicator that we are now recovering from the recent economic downturn that affected all industries. With the influx of infrastructure projects not only in Qatar but the rest of the region, we are looking to position ourselves as a reliable partner for developers - delivering essential world class materials for world class projects. Danube remains steadfast in our commitment to become a premier one stop shop for building and construction materials and living up to our reputation of excellent customer service,” concluded Sajan.