Import reliance creates producer niche

These are difficult times to be a building materials supplier in the region. Fluctuating market prices and demanding contractors dominate the scene. Cases of projects running behind schedule are numerous and serve to illustrate just how many factors can influence the construction site. Within Dubai, there are a number of developments that have been affected as access to materials has been reduced or cut off.

Just last month, Construction Week revealed that cladding for the Burj Dubai is due to arrive in the UAE in May. Work on this phase of the tower has been delayed for almost a year after the originally appointed contractor, Schmidlin Façade Technology, was replaced after going bankrupt.

Despite the delays, developer Emaar Properties says that the tower is on schedule to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2008. The cladding has been developed by China-based Far East Aluminium Works Company and installation is expected to begin early in June in conjunction with Arabian Aluminium Company.

Elsewhere in the region, similar stories appear. Bahrain's reliance on imported resources proved costly recently when a breakdown at a cement factory in Saudi Arabia affected work across a number of construction sites in the kingdom. This has led to calls for a cement plant to be built in Bahrain in order to reduce the country's dependence on imported materials.

Mohammed Jawad, manager of cement supplier Bahrain Quarry, says that much of the problem may stem from problematic trade relations with Saudi Arabia. "The cement imports are controlled by high-positioned people in Saudi Arabia; they make the rules. You can only buy very large packages of cement each year. In Bahrain, the small contractors do not have the money to afford these amounts in one-off contracts, so agreements with Saudi Arabia are very difficult.

"Of course, it would be better to manufacture cement in Bahrain. There would be no need to import. We are in terrible need of cement in Bahrain. The problem is leading to high prices and work is stopping on some projects," he adds.

But as with any market that is maturing, fresh ideas that look to improve the supply chain are inevitable. And with a transient population, it is unsurprising that European approaches to material distribution are hitting local shores. Philip Fergusson, commercial manager, JMH Merlin, explains how the company is planning a new approach to supplying materials to sites within the region. "From what I have seen, the building material distributors [in the Middle East] have a strange portfolio of products, which I don't link together," he says.

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