2014 Outlook: Trends to watch, strategies to consider

H.E. Hamad Buamim, President & CEO, Dubai Chamber. The overall business environment in Dubai has boosted the expectation and confidence of business leaders across the emirate in light of Dubai's improved chances of hosting Expo 2020.

"The factors contributing to the outlook for general business confidence are mainly based on the expectations of the ongoing preparations for hosting Dubai Expo 2020, greater domestic and global demands with the holiday season and influx of tourist arrivals when the weather becomes friendlier in the last quarter. Other factors for the outlook included economic stability, market maturity and improved liquidity and the continued development of infrastructure and launches of more initiatives and projects by the government. The improved investor confidence which is the highest in the history of Dubai Chamber also comes from their trust in Dubai's business environment which gets a boost from the vision of its government who has been supporting major projects all along."

He also said that the strong synergy enjoyed by the public and private sectors and their joint backing for the Expo 2020 bid have also positively impacted the business leaders' expectations. These positive percentages reflect the high confidence in the business environment in Dubai, as large businesses are more optimistic for the quarter, rating a net expectation scores for business conditions at 82% and for business confidence at 65%; against the SMEs' respective net expectation scores of 78% and 61%.

Basel El Malki, Director, KSA Construction Audit Specialist, Deloitte Middle East. Saudi Arabia’s construction industry is expected to continue its growth in the next few years with the value of projects planned and under way estimated at over US$732 billion covering transport infrastructure, utilities infrastructure, education, healthcare and other sectors.

Fuelled by Saudi Arabia’s strong demographic growth, high oil prices and a government-backed capital investment program, KSA looks to continue its dominance in the region as the biggest construction market for some time to come. This continues to give a major boost to the private sectors, offsetting some of the remaining global economic gloom.

"The growth of Saudi Arabia’s construction sector is very rapid. The projects which are already under way or planned are worth in the region of US $732 billion. We expect the Saudi economy to grow between 4% and 4.4% in 2013. Between 2010 and 2014, the Saudi Arabian government plans to invest US$385 billion in developing its social and economic structure under the 9th Development Plan; 7% of this budget is allocated to housing services, 7.7% to communication and transportation, 19% to social and healthcare, 15.7% to economic resources and 50.6% to human resources. The plan will include the construction of one million houses by the end of 2014, 117 hospitals and 750 primary care health facilities which are expected to be open by 2015. Vocational schools and colleges are also expected to be included in this plan. Road projects currently under construction have been estimated at US $2 billion, rail projects at US$27 billion and a further US $613 million has been set aside for the development / expansion of nine ports including Jeddah Islamic Port."

Yasir Al Jamal, Technical Director Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee. One of the most exciting and significant challenges Qatar’s construction industry currently faces is the certainty of a fixed deadline for establishing all that is required to deliver a successful FIFA World Cup in 2022.

"The key challenge the contractor and developMens Running Shoes & Running Trainers