Contractors are being sought for the new US $327 million (AED1.2 billion) UAE university campus project in Al Ain.
It will be the first major education project in the UAE to be procured as a public private partnership and is expected to attract an international line-up of bidders in addition to local players.
A special purpose vehicle will be established to build and operate the new university campus, which will have a built-up area of around 280 000m2.
And the successful bidder will win the concession to build and operate the college for a period of 26 years.
Bovis Lend Lease has already been appointed as project manager for the first-of-its-kind development. Project manager Richard Merchant said: “This will be a brand new campus to consolidate all of the existing university buildings into one site.”
Abu Dhabi-based Al Hikma Development Company is procuring the new facility on behalf of the UAE University.This week the firm invited contractors to pre-qualify for the project by October 19th 2005.
Construction work is due to start on the new campus in June 2006 and the construction period will be around four years.Project consultants are GHD and Cansult and the architect is Australian outfit Cox.
Al Hikma is currently in the process of appointing a QS for the project.
The UAE government has signaled its intention to procure more future projects through the PPP route, which is also becoming increasingly established in other GCC states.
Until now most of the projects that have been procured by this route have been confined to the transport and utilities sector.
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