AVIATION

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has been branded as the fastest growing aviation market in the world in terms of air passenger traffic (IATA), experiencing a steady 15.3% rise from February 2005 to February 2006. Airbus and Boeing have predicted that the MENA carriers will be ordering more than a 1000 aircrafts worth more than US$124 billion over the next two decades.

UAE
Dubai World Central Airport
Over US$33 billion has been earmarked for the development of aviation infrastructure in the UAE alone, including the development of the world’s largest Dubai World Central Airport. It is designed to serve the Emirates’ passenger and cargo air transportation needs until 2050 and handling beyond 120 million passengers a year. The Airport will cost US$8.2 billion.

Dubai International Airport
Major Expansions are taking place at a cost of US$4.1 Billion. Once completed, the Airport will be able to cater to 70 million passengers and 3.5 million tons of cargo per year.

Abu Dhabi International Airport
The airport was used by over 3.4 million passengers in 1998 and is projected to service 10 million passengers by 2010. This massive development is expected to cost US$6.8 billion.

Saudi Arabia 
King Abdul Aziz International Airport

Its expansion includes two new terminals, one for international and the other for domestic passengers and extension of the existing southern terminal for international and VIP use, with passage ways connecting the terminals. By the end of the project, the airport’s annual passenger capacity is expected to increase from 13 to 21 million. The expansion is scheduled to be complete by the final quarter of 2010 at a cost of US$4.8 Billion.

Qatar
New Doha International Airport
The current airport handles 4.2 million passengers per year; whereas the new airport will be able to handle 12.5 million per year after the first phase of construction. The project will cost US$5.5 Billion.

Oman
Seeb International Airport
It aims to boost Seeb Airport’s handling capacity from the present five million passengers per year to 12 million when the first phase is completed in 2010. This airport will be equipped to accommodate the Airbus A 380 Super Jumbo.

Kuwait
Kuwait will spend over US$2.1 Billion over expanding the Kuwait International Airport.

Sudan
Over US$550 million will be spent on Khartoum’s New International Airport.

Tunisia
A new Airport at Enfidha will be built at a cost of US$ 450 million.

Libya
Six new Airports are to be built, and three International Airports will be upgraded at a cost of US$800 million.

Yemen
Sana’a International Airport is upgraded at a cost of US$300 million.

Morocco
Office National Des Aeroports will spend US$375 million for Airport infrastructure.

    MARITIME

Container traffic growing at a rate of 26-30% a year in the GCC and the Mediterranean is driving the demand for a greater sea port capacity. Most cargo tends to go into containers which are easier and cleaner to handle.

The growth of traffic from China and the Far East is also encouraging expansion projects. Three quarter of the business coming through the MENA region is from the Orient.

Egypt
Egypt’s East Port Said is set to grow to a capacity of 11 million – 14 million TEU by 2015 from the 8 million at present. Alexandria is increasing capacity. The new terminal in Damietta will have a ceiling of 4 million TEUs.

Morocco
Morocco Tangier – Mediterranean (Tang – Med) port project will boast a total capacity of 8.5 million TEU a year. A second 5 million TEUs phase of Tang Med will be also implemented.

Tunisia
Major port developments are also planned in Tunisia. The construction of a 2.5 million – container terminal will form the first phase of the development of a Greenfield deep water port of Enlidha, 60 kilometers south of Tunis. Subsequent stages will increase handling to 6 million TEUs, with the possibility of eventually reaching 8 million TEUs. The project is estimated to cost $2000 million.

Algeria
Plans to develop a trans-shipment hub at Djenjen are moving ahead. The port will be operational within four years, and could handle up to 3 million TEUs.

Syria
Tartous port will expand the handling capacity of its container terminal to up to 500,000 TEUs from the current 40,000 TEUs in the next 15 years. Its strategic location and potential to act as a gateway to Iraq will make it attractive to investors.

    OVERLAND

As governments across MENA has committed over 147 billion of dollars to the creation and enhancement of their transport infrastructures, the development of road, rail and metro projects across the region are accelerating as countries are faced with rapidly growing populations that are placing incredible demands on their existing transportation networks.

• Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has initiated projects with a
   total investment in excess of US$4 billion.
• Dubai’s metro project is to cost an estimated US$3.9 billion including civil
   works, stations, system fixed equipment, trains, engineering and financing.
• Saudi Arabia in the first phase of activity has invested uS$5.6 billion for the
   construction of bridges and railway networks.
• Bahrain has invested US$1.8 billion in a causeway project to link Bahrain 
   and Qatar.
• The Gulf Cooperation Council is considering proposals for a pan-Gulf 
   Railway.
• Abu Dhabi’s master public transport plan’ sets out plans for a Metro project and the establishment of a comprehensive public transport network.

Among the many, Qatar’s Urban Planning and Development Authority (UPDA), in a bid to develop a world class urban transportation network, is presently developing a comprehensive Transportation Master Plan for Qatar (TMPQ) – aiming to address requirements over the next 20 years, it will also explore the possibilities of developing a Rail Rapid Transit system and is being prepared by German consultancy firm PTV. Roughly US$ 3.4 billion will be spent over the next 7 years to road projects.

In Iran, Sadeq Afshar, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Roads and Transportation recently announced that the amount budgeted for road building and transportation infrastructure has, on average, increased by around 20%, and that US$10.7 million has been earmarked for the national construction projects. Also in Iran, a project has been inaugurated to expand its rail link toward Afghanistan as part of a wider plan to provide regional as well as European train access to its eastern neighbor.

Kuwait plans to invest US$4 billion in transport infrastructure and upgrades.

A GCC railway network may also become a reality within the coming decade. Some progress has already been made to launch the project, which it is estimated will cost US$20 billion, and a study will be submitted to GCC transport ministries in around six months. A railway network connecting key harbors in the GCC would boost freight traffic in the Gulf and improve the logistics base of the region. And in Saudi Arabia, The Saudi Railway Organization (SRO) has entered into contracts with 20 American companies for the supply of train engines, heavy equipment and spare parts.

Finally, moving on to North Africa, Alsunut Development Company, Sudan’s leading real estate development company, has announced the commencement of the US$20 million roads project which forms phase one of an infrastructure project worth a total of US$150 million.