CERCOUNTRYREPORT United Arab Emirates
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: where construction never sleeps
by Sara Seghedoni
The strong market performance is
expected to improve further ahead of Expo 2020
Perhaps more than any other country in the Gulf region,
the UAE has succeeded in exploiting its resources (especially oil and gas) and strategic geographical position to achieve truly impressive growth. As a result, it is a rich market open to international trade and investment with a diversified economy and excellent infrastructure and logistics. Economic indicators reveal constantly positive GDP growth over the last 10 years (341.3 billion euros in 2016, +2.3%), making it
the world’s seventh highest
country in terms of per capita GDP (at purchasing power parity) with more than 66,000 euros. The construction sector is the third most important industry following oil and trade and is made up of a total of
around 6,000 companies, mostly located in Abu Dhabi. Construction sector investments totalled 56.2 billion euros in 2016, an increase of 24% since 2006, and account for almost 84% of the country’s total investments.
Following the contraction in other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries caused by falling oil prices, Dubai is now the largest construction market in the region, additionally boosted by the major projects undertaken in the Emirate in the run-up to Expo 2020. The country’s investments in construction fell by 8.6% in 2016 with respect to 2015 following three years of continuous growth in the sector (+7.4% in 2013, +4.1% in 2014 and +1.9% in 2015). According to figures published by MEED (Middle East Economic Digest), 44% of contracts awarded in the construction and transport sector in the GCC area in the first six months of 2016 were in Dubai. In this context, preparations for Expo 2020, a world event held for the first
time in a Middle Eastern
country, will not only boost incoming tourist flows but will also create new jobs and push up demand for new structures, including hotels, homes, shopping centres and entertainment complexes. Ahead of Expo 2020 the annual number of new housing units is expected to rise to 39,000. This has boosted the recovery of
the real estate and
construction sector, and a number of projects that had been interrupted
Construction workers on the top floor of a hotel in Dubai 46 CER maggio/giugno 2017
Photo by Piotr Zarobkiewicz, own work [CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7546509]
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