Al Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) is targeting new
contracts before the end of the year as it works to recover receivables owed
during the collapse in the property market in Dubai.
“Are they [the debts] being resolved fast enough?
Probably not,” HLG CEO and managing director Lawrie Voyer told Arabian Business.
“I guess we’re all becoming used to the new way of
payments being made so we’ve adjusted or thinking around that.
“At the end of the day, we need to work within the
current framework to ensure we collectively get paid. There’s no point in
pushing anyone over the edge at the moment,” Voyer added.
The HLG CEO declined to state how much the firm was owed
by firms in the UAE.
Voyer also said that the firm was hoping to build on
recent contract wins in Abu Dhabi and Iraq by inking further deals in the UAE
this year.
“We think we’re in the running for Mafraq hospital,
which is of great interest to us,” he said.
“I think there’s also some work on the defence bases
that we’re pricing at the moment. Hopefully there’ll be a favourable response
there but like all these things, they’re in the lap of the gods.”
The CEO said that HLG was still interested in building up
operations in Iraq, after announcing an SPM contract win earlier this week.
“That contract is a ground-breaking project for us
to enter Iraq. Maybe next year we’ll be back with some stronger announcements
there,” Voyer said.
HLG is a joint venture between Australia’s Leighton
Holdings and the UAE’s Al Habtoor Group.
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