In its attempts to diversify, Drake & Scull the Dubai based construction firm has talked about Iraq and a lot of other Asian countries as their key target.
The firm has got its first contract in Iraq and it is a joint venture with the Italian company Sipim worth $358 million in the Zubair oil field of southern Iraq, and it has added that it has a huge potential of winning more work, because the country is rebuilding.
In the Leaders in Construction Summit held in last week the MD of Drake & Scull Power & Water Tawfiq Abu Soud has said that they are bidding for a lot more projects in Iraq and the reason behind that is the lack of water, waste water and power, basically the people of Iraq has nothing at all.
There are 30 million people and that is why it is as big a market as Saudi Arabia.
He further added that the security situations is not that good in many places, but they are improving.
He said that sending people to the country is not easy, but things are getting better with time.
At the summit, Mr. Soud has told the reporters that the company is currently targeting the infrastructure projects in the Asian countries like India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
He also added that Asia is their long term priority, because according to the reports, there will projects worth $30 trillion in these countries in the next 13 years, so it will be really wise to be present there.
Soud has said that the company is working hard to complete their lone project in Asia right now which is worthy $27 million and is about constructing a water supply system to a power plant in Orissa, India. The project will be finished by March next year. He has also added that the Indian authorities have earmarked an amount of about $500 million for the wastewater treatment projects in the country in the coming 5 years.
The company is trying to exploit its knowledge in the rail projects too.
He has said that they have been constructing rail rods in Saudi, UAE and Qatar and other places in Asia, but those names cannot be revealed.
He has added that the company is looking forward to find other potential situations as well.
According to him the acquisition mode is never inactive, the only matter is selection. The company needs to be more selective. He has stated his inability to state things clearly, but there are targets always.
Source [Construction Week Online]