Muscat: Oman achieved a major breakthrough when five of its highest quality projects were named national winners at the MEED Quality Awards for Projects, in association with Mashreq.
With a combined project value of $350 million, national winners from Oman include the Muttawar Omani Company’s Lamar Bausher Muttawar residential development project (nominated by Larsen & Toubro) as Residential Project of the Year; Public Authority of Electricity and Water Sultanate of Oman’s construction of emergency water storage reservoirs project as Power and Water Project of the Year and Al Taher Group’s Oman Avenues Mall-stage 2 project (entered by SAM Engineering) as Retail Project of the Year.
The other two projects are Lycee Francaise De Mascate’s construction of New French School, Muscat project (jointly nominated by 23 Degrees North and SAM Engineering) as Social, Culture & Heritage Project of the Year; and Muscat Municipality’s design and construction of underpasses and flyovers Darsait-Al Wadi Al Kabir Road (entered by Larsen & Toubro) as Transport Project of the Year.
John Iossifidis, executive vice president, Group Head of Corporate and Investment Banking at Mashreq which is the headline sponsor of the awards says, “Oman’s construction industry is projected to exhibit sustainable growth prospects in the next few years. This industry experienced enormous investments from the public and private enterprises during the past few years and there are optimistic signs that this will continue. We congratulate all the winners for delivering and contributing towards the growth and sustainability of the industry.”
This is Oman’s best performance in the awards, with five projects winning the national winner accolade compared to only three in last year’s edition. They will now compete at the regional level against national winners from Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for GCC-wide recognition in various categories.
“The projects were evaluated by an esteemed judging panel against criteria that included not only engineering and construction excellence; but also sustainability and innovation,” says Richard Thompson, editorial director at MEED.
“They are a testament to the quality of projects being built throughout the Gulf and MEED is honoured to be able to recognise these achievements to highlight their contribution towards the future development of the projects industry in the region,” added Richard.
The winners of the 2016 MEED Quality Awards for Projects, in association with Mashreq will be announced at a ceremony on May 25 that will serve as the culmination of the MEED Construction Leadership Summit, a high-level gathering of the Gulf’s construction leaders, which seeks to promote open dialogue between stakeholders to explore the strategic direction of the region’s construction industry.