Saadiyat Island- Infrastructure to be awarded in 2010

According to senior official from Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), the two main infrastructure packages for Cultural District and Marina Disttrict on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi will be announced by the first quarter of 2010. However, he turned down the request of disclosing any values.

Andrew Seymour, the Director of o Infrastructure at Saadiyat Island added to the matter, “As a client, we are anxious to see what prices we get since it is a competitive market. The contractors are hungry now unlike two years ago. We are taking full advantage of the fact that competitive pricing need to be brought into every single element of the work that we are doing.”

Seymour also told Emirates Business, "Our initial focus was on the Saadiyat Beach area, where we have luxury resorts and golf courses and all infrastructures around the area. It also included Saadiyat Bridge, Khalifa Bridge and expressway. It will all be completed in the next three to six months. The next focus is primarily on Cultural District to support the museums and their construction. At the same time, we will be looking at Marina district. It is a considerable amount of work considering the sizes of the project components.” He further said, ” "In very broad terms, we are looking at continuing the infrastructure work on Saadiyat Island over the next 10 years and are tying in with that. As areas get completed, the verticals of the building and the development above ground will start to occur. We are looking at 2020 for the completion."

However, the main power and water facilities to the island are under construction and nearing completion.

"The transmission supplier built at 400kv grid station and all the cables are nearing completion. Of the four substations, two are nearing completion and the other two will be completed by mid-2010. We are in the first phase of finishing off the huge ground storage tank, which will distribute water across the island. That will finish in 2010. One sewage treatment plant will be completed this month, and the design build contract on the second one has been awarded to Kharafi National," said Seymour.

The Australian-based Thiess Management Services is managing the construction waste management issues and have been imploring third-party contractors to take on various related jobs.

Seymour said:"We have a concrete crushing and waste management disposal system on the island. We are also looking at ways to control waste on the island so that sub-contractors on the island would deliver to one central location, which will minimize the logistical issues and traffic. We also have environmental services through TDIC and our lead consultant Parson to make sure our and third party developers are complying with our environmental mitigation plans. Sustainability will remain our priority along with reuse of construction waste, if possible."

The main issues on the project are logistical issues. However the bigger challenge is being predicted as Saadiyat Island will see more developers and contractors coming in the coming days.