Now is the time to build

Price drop 

"What is good from a development point of view is that a lot of private developers (in Saudi Arabia) are seeing a depression in contractor pricing," says Greene. "We have seen a decline, which - depending on the contractor because some are building in risk into their prices - is between 5 and 10 per cent." Although in the short-to-medium term, the outlook for the Saudi economy remains subdued, the long-term outlook is more positive. "We are encouraging clients in the Saudi market to develop now and when the projects are built in three to four years, the economy should have recovered." Greene also argues that there is a strong case for starting work on projects in the UAE before construction costs start to rise as activity ramps up for the 2020 Expo. 

The above article appeared in the most recent edition of the MEED Business Review, as written by Colin Foreman. The original article can be viewed here .