Drake & Scull Construction, the civil contracting arm of Drake & Scull International, has started its civil and building operations in Qatar to leverage on the existing Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) and water and power business streams.

Drake and Scull is a regional market leader in integrated design, engineering and construction disciplines of MEP, civil contracting, and water and power.

Announcing its Qatar expansion, Drake & Scull CEO Khaldoun Tabari said, “DSC will enable us to cover the complete value chain of the construction industry in Qatar and will optimise our exposure to the residential, commercial, education, healthcare and infrastructure sectors.'

'We aim to import our regional experience and acquired operational and technical expertise in turnkey execution of high rise towers, hotels and residential schemes, infrastructure works, construction management, inspection and quality control to complement our established MEP and water and power divisions,' he added.

Tabari was speaking at the 'Qatar Construction Summit 2011' held in Grand Hyatt hotel, Doha. The company is a sponsor and exhibitor at the summit.

He later discussed the challenges faced by contractors in Qatar as they aim to support the country’s real estate expansion plans.

Drake & Scull's presentation addressed the lucrative opportunities emerging in Qatar’s construction sector and particularly focused on client procurement methods, alignment of the construction and supply chain teams, in addition to shedding light on ways to secure the right people, materials and funding.

Commenting on the strategic milestone, Tabari said, “We are well established in Qatar and we have executed a wide range of MEP projects across various industries. Drake & Scull Qatar was established in 2006 and has undertaken a number of prestigious MEP projects.'

'These include the West Bay Complex “Four Seasons hotel” and the Qtel headquarters as well as a design and build contract for two district cooling plants for the Musheireb project developed by Doha Land,' he added.

Saleh Muradweij, the managing director of DSC said Qatar has been witnessing unprecedented economic growth in recent years, and several key factors such as its favourable investment climate, strong government support and winning the 2022 World Cup hosting rights have added impetus to the country’s ambitious growth plans.

'The construction summit provided a well-rounded perspective of the various opportunities in Qatar’s construction landscape, and DSI’s presentation mainly addressed the various challenges that contractors confront as they try to keep pace with the market demands and the rapidly changing construction industry dynamics,' he added.

Since the beginning of 2011 DSI has managed to secure a series of MEP, civil and water & power projects in several GCC countries, Egypt, Asia and Europe for a combined value of Dh3.6 billion.

The company has a backlog of Dh7.5 billion as of June 2011 and remains positive on its expectations for the second half of the year and is now bidding extensively for projects in the Mena and Asian regions, said Tabari.-TradeArabia News Service