As the United Arab Emirates gears up to invest more than US $4.6 billion (UAE Dirham 17 billion) in its nationwide road network in the next few years, the second annual 3515 Intermat Middle East show has taken place in Abu Dhabi with suppliers like: AAA Cranes, Miller UK, Kanoo, Liebherr, Sennebogen, WireCo World, Erkat, Terex Finlay, Atlas Copco, , ELSA SRL, Robit Rock Tools, Ramtec Robi, Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik, T.G.S – The Grab Specialist, BV Beco, Techking Tires, Blastrac, SK Solutions, Xcentric International SRL, SUCOOT Industrial, Remu OY, Safi, Halco Rock Tools, JCB, Vectra, Outset and Haulotte taking centre stage.
Ahmed Al Yamahi, head of the country’s road execution section, told World Highways that the country has a huge “medium term plan to invest Dirhams 17 billion in its road programme over the next few years.”
Plans include updating the overloaded Dubai to Sharjah motorway; calling for new design and construction ideas regarding the Al Salam Tunnel which would comprise a 2.2-kilometre-long, 8-lane motorway tunnel with 1.2 kilometres of roads leading to and from the project; carrying out widening and rehabilitation work on the Ghayathi-Bida Al Mutawwa road; extending the Abu Dhabi creek area from Business Bay, a project that will include two new 610-metre-long bridges, each consisting of seven lanes in each direction (both bridges will be 36 metres wide and allow 8.5 metres of clearance from the water below); building a new Al Mafraq-Ghuweifat Road to connect Abu Dhabi with its neighbours, such as Saudi Arabia, expanding the current road network by 246km and constructing 15 new overhead interchanges; upgrading and extending the existing Emirates Road from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, a project that will work closely with a new metro and tram system to help reduce traffic congestion in Abu Dhabi itself; constructing and maintaining a new drainage system for Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region; the “Plan Al Ain 2030” and “Plan Al Gharbia 2030” projects in Abu Dhabi which both include massive “surface transport” schemes including developments like new buses, light mass transit and national rail investments.
With schemes like this in the pipeline, Maryvonne Lanoe, exhibition director of Intermat Middle East, is confident that the show has huge potential as the region invests hard in its future road infrastructure. She says that the event is pleased “to have the support of the both the MoPW and the DMA. Intermat Middle East 2012 has provided a great networking platform for developers and construction machinery, materials and equipment providers with senior government officials of the UAE. We are certain that this positive response will open opportunities for beneficial collaborations in building the future of not just the UAE but the Middle East as a whole.”
The show also included a conference programme which, according to Lanoe, “provided developers with networking opportunities, with speakers focusing on government healthcare projects, building information modelling, and the use of cold pavement recycling in the rehabilitation of Abu Dhabi’s roads, sustainable public lighting, and the use of recycled aggregate in new road construction.” Speakers included Yousuf Abdulla Ali Abdulla, deputy director of southern zone, MoPW, UAE; Dr. Ahmed Hassan Ali, project design consultant, Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, UAE; RaminYazdani, specialist materials quality – municipal road infrastructure, Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, UAE and many more.
And as if to reinforce this positive outlook, a new study carried out by Ventures Middle East reveals that infrastructure spending across the UAE will top US $1.6 billion in 2012 alone. Also, according to another recent study by Deloitte, governments across the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) have already got plans in place to invest more than US $1 trillion in big infrastructure schemes like roads, railways, airports, and the 2012 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The region is getting ever bigger and the GCC expects its population numbers to grow by 31% between now and 2025 to 500 million. Robert Jennings, the general manager of Kanoo, expects Saudi Arabia to be “the country that provides the most opportunities for organisations involved in the construction industry.”
“The projects I see as most significant are all based in Saudi Arabia,” Jennings told World Highways. “They are the Riyadh Metro, the Jeddah to Median high speed rail scheme, the King Abdullah financial district in Riyadh, and the Jizan and KAEC ports.”
Concrete demand in Saudi Arabia is also booming at present says Jennings.
Intermat Middle East is now in its second year at ADNEC (the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre) and the organisers hope it will become an annual meeting point for the Middle East construction sector. Manufacturers using the exhibition to showcase new models included Sennebogen, which presented two new cranes: the 655HD (55 ton) and 6130HD (130 ton) Heavy Duty Cycle crane for dynamic applications such as foundation works. Sennebogen also showed off its newest telescopic crawler crane - the l 673R (70 ton) and the new E-series.
AAA Construction Equipment presented a range of heavy machinery including two IHI Japanese crawler cranes: the 280-tonne CCH2800 and the 70-tonne IHI Japanese CCH700, as well as an eco-friendly IHI Japanese 50 NX 3 mini excavator and the low noise-emission Nippon Sharyo NES150 Generator. Manitowoc also created a stir with its MR 295 luffing-jib crane made by Potain. The distributor also presented a Gove RT765E-2 rough-terrain crane.
Both Miller UK and Montabert reported at the event on the Middle East’s slowness in adopting different attachments. Breakers are the most popular type of attachment at present said Montabert and Miller UK director Jacqui Miller agreed with the view that the market is proving very slow to take up the efficiencies offered by using a variety of different hydraulic attachments on one machine. “There is not enough focus on the cost savings that can be generated when you use a multiple attachment approach,” Miller told World Highways.
EarthCam debuted its new GigapixelCam at Intermat Middle East showing how project managers can view the progress of a project in high resolution. EarthCam CEO Brian Cury says that the high-resolution images produced by the firm’s new model can reduce the need to visit the sites in person. The images can be shared too, and time lapse movies can be produced showing the project’s different stages.
The GigapixelCam can also produce high-resolution panorama images by stitching together a series of results and the company is also proud of the way in which the cameras have been designed to cope with Middle East conditions via automatic dust controls and an automatic wiper to clean the lens.
According to Holger Amann, sales and service director at Liebherr, the Middle East construction industry is continuing to show signs of stability. In a new report by Alpen Capital, says Amann, the “Arab Spring” has had a positive effect. “Compared to 2009 and 2010, the economy started to recover at the end of 2011” he added. “2012 is very likely going to be a record year for our Middle East operation.”
Amann pointed to several large investments that have been made in the region recently including the US$28 billion Saadiyat Island in UAE; the US$11 billion Etihad Rail project in UAE; the US$91 billion 2022 FIFA World Cup project in Qatar; the US$95 billion Madinat al Hareer in Kuwait; and the US$22.8 billion new rail network system in Qatar.
The overall outlook is “promising for 2013 and 2014,” says Liebherr, and the German manufacturer is also encouraged by signs that “countries in the Middle East have expressed their plans for a greener environment. Governments from across the region have placed strict regulations in constructing more sustainable buildings and infrastructure whilst using machines that are efficient, significantly reducing emissions.”
Liebherr feels that it has a good range of equipment in place to meet this demand, especially in terms of “design, technology and exhaust emissions.” AT this year’s show the firm exhibited “a 100-tonne telescopic crawler crane and a 5-axle mobile crane” because these “are the most popular machine types in the region.”
Italian on-board weighing experts Outset used the show to display its Lanx Evo app on an iPhone. The system uses wireless remote control display technology to tell owner-driver exactly how heavy their load is in real time, displaying the weight on screen and then recording it in a database that can be downloaded and stored later.
The clever display on screen will give readings axle by axle, and measure things in net, gross or partial terms.
Ahmed Al Yamahi, head of the country’s road execution section, told World Highways that the country has a huge “medium term plan to invest Dirhams 17 billion in its road programme over the next few years.”
Plans include updating the overloaded Dubai to Sharjah motorway; calling for new design and construction ideas regarding the Al Salam Tunnel which would comprise a 2.2-kilometre-long, 8-lane motorway tunnel with 1.2 kilometres of roads leading to and from the project; carrying out widening and rehabilitation work on the Ghayathi-Bida Al Mutawwa road; extending the Abu Dhabi creek area from Business Bay, a project that will include two new 610-metre-long bridges, each consisting of seven lanes in each direction (both bridges will be 36 metres wide and allow 8.5 metres of clearance from the water below); building a new Al Mafraq-Ghuweifat Road to connect Abu Dhabi with its neighbours, such as Saudi Arabia, expanding the current road network by 246km and constructing 15 new overhead interchanges; upgrading and extending the existing Emirates Road from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, a project that will work closely with a new metro and tram system to help reduce traffic congestion in Abu Dhabi itself; constructing and maintaining a new drainage system for Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region; the “Plan Al Ain 2030” and “Plan Al Gharbia 2030” projects in Abu Dhabi which both include massive “surface transport” schemes including developments like new buses, light mass transit and national rail investments.
With schemes like this in the pipeline, Maryvonne Lanoe, exhibition director of Intermat Middle East, is confident that the show has huge potential as the region invests hard in its future road infrastructure. She says that the event is pleased “to have the support of the both the MoPW and the DMA. Intermat Middle East 2012 has provided a great networking platform for developers and construction machinery, materials and equipment providers with senior government officials of the UAE. We are certain that this positive response will open opportunities for beneficial collaborations in building the future of not just the UAE but the Middle East as a whole.”
The show also included a conference programme which, according to Lanoe, “provided developers with networking opportunities, with speakers focusing on government healthcare projects, building information modelling, and the use of cold pavement recycling in the rehabilitation of Abu Dhabi’s roads, sustainable public lighting, and the use of recycled aggregate in new road construction.” Speakers included Yousuf Abdulla Ali Abdulla, deputy director of southern zone, MoPW, UAE; Dr. Ahmed Hassan Ali, project design consultant, Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, UAE; RaminYazdani, specialist materials quality – municipal road infrastructure, Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, UAE and many more.
And as if to reinforce this positive outlook, a new study carried out by Ventures Middle East reveals that infrastructure spending across the UAE will top US $1.6 billion in 2012 alone. Also, according to another recent study by Deloitte, governments across the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) have already got plans in place to invest more than US $1 trillion in big infrastructure schemes like roads, railways, airports, and the 2012 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The region is getting ever bigger and the GCC expects its population numbers to grow by 31% between now and 2025 to 500 million. Robert Jennings, the general manager of Kanoo, expects Saudi Arabia to be “the country that provides the most opportunities for organisations involved in the construction industry.”
“The projects I see as most significant are all based in Saudi Arabia,” Jennings told World Highways. “They are the Riyadh Metro, the Jeddah to Median high speed rail scheme, the King Abdullah financial district in Riyadh, and the Jizan and KAEC ports.”
Concrete demand in Saudi Arabia is also booming at present says Jennings.
Intermat Middle East is now in its second year at ADNEC (the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre) and the organisers hope it will become an annual meeting point for the Middle East construction sector. Manufacturers using the exhibition to showcase new models included Sennebogen, which presented two new cranes: the 655HD (55 ton) and 6130HD (130 ton) Heavy Duty Cycle crane for dynamic applications such as foundation works. Sennebogen also showed off its newest telescopic crawler crane - the l 673R (70 ton) and the new E-series.
AAA Construction Equipment presented a range of heavy machinery including two IHI Japanese crawler cranes: the 280-tonne CCH2800 and the 70-tonne IHI Japanese CCH700, as well as an eco-friendly IHI Japanese 50 NX 3 mini excavator and the low noise-emission Nippon Sharyo NES150 Generator. Manitowoc also created a stir with its MR 295 luffing-jib crane made by Potain. The distributor also presented a Gove RT765E-2 rough-terrain crane.
Both Miller UK and Montabert reported at the event on the Middle East’s slowness in adopting different attachments. Breakers are the most popular type of attachment at present said Montabert and Miller UK director Jacqui Miller agreed with the view that the market is proving very slow to take up the efficiencies offered by using a variety of different hydraulic attachments on one machine. “There is not enough focus on the cost savings that can be generated when you use a multiple attachment approach,” Miller told World Highways.
EarthCam debuted its new GigapixelCam at Intermat Middle East showing how project managers can view the progress of a project in high resolution. EarthCam CEO Brian Cury says that the high-resolution images produced by the firm’s new model can reduce the need to visit the sites in person. The images can be shared too, and time lapse movies can be produced showing the project’s different stages.
The GigapixelCam can also produce high-resolution panorama images by stitching together a series of results and the company is also proud of the way in which the cameras have been designed to cope with Middle East conditions via automatic dust controls and an automatic wiper to clean the lens.
According to Holger Amann, sales and service director at Liebherr, the Middle East construction industry is continuing to show signs of stability. In a new report by Alpen Capital, says Amann, the “Arab Spring” has had a positive effect. “Compared to 2009 and 2010, the economy started to recover at the end of 2011” he added. “2012 is very likely going to be a record year for our Middle East operation.”
Amann pointed to several large investments that have been made in the region recently including the US$28 billion Saadiyat Island in UAE; the US$11 billion Etihad Rail project in UAE; the US$91 billion 2022 FIFA World Cup project in Qatar; the US$95 billion Madinat al Hareer in Kuwait; and the US$22.8 billion new rail network system in Qatar.
The overall outlook is “promising for 2013 and 2014,” says Liebherr, and the German manufacturer is also encouraged by signs that “countries in the Middle East have expressed their plans for a greener environment. Governments from across the region have placed strict regulations in constructing more sustainable buildings and infrastructure whilst using machines that are efficient, significantly reducing emissions.”
Liebherr feels that it has a good range of equipment in place to meet this demand, especially in terms of “design, technology and exhaust emissions.” AT this year’s show the firm exhibited “a 100-tonne telescopic crawler crane and a 5-axle mobile crane” because these “are the most popular machine types in the region.”
Italian on-board weighing experts Outset used the show to display its Lanx Evo app on an iPhone. The system uses wireless remote control display technology to tell owner-driver exactly how heavy their load is in real time, displaying the weight on screen and then recording it in a database that can be downloaded and stored later.
The clever display on screen will give readings axle by axle, and measure things in net, gross or partial terms.
