UAE Contracting

Executive Summary

UAE is about to witness a high growth in the contracting sector. There was a 36.2% growth in the construction sector and its share in GDP reached to 9% in 2013. Like the UAE economy, UAE's contracting sector too is the second largest in the GCC region. The construction industry underwent a slow growth during the economic crisis of 2008, but now on the back of large government spending in the non-oil sector, increase in number of projects, and UAE winning the contract for Expo 2020, the construction companies in UAE have recovered successfully. The UAE construction sector will have a strong growth due to availability of new megaprojects as well as from the restart of the previously interrupted projects.

This research provides in-depth look into the UAE contracting industry. It elaborately discusses sector-wise ongoing projects, prevalent industry architecture, key demand drivers and challenges faced by the industry. Since the Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the dominant markets for the contracting industry, an analysis concentrating these two regions is incorporated. Also, included is the financial performance evaluation of some the key listed contracting companies -Arabtec Holding PJSC and Drake & Scull International PJSC.