Drake & Scull signs Dh128 million in Kuwait deals

Drake & Scull's Kuwaiti subsidiary said that it had signed deals worth more than Dh128 million to carry out mechanical electrical and plumbing work in Kuwait.

The Dubai-listed contractor Drake & Scull International has signed deals worth more than Dh128 million to carry out mechanical electrical and plumbing work in Kuwait.

Drake & Scull’s Kuwaiti subsidiary said yesterday thatit had won a Dh68 million engineering contract to install plumbing and firefighting systems for the new Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre in Kuwait City centre.

The new cultural centre, which is being developed by Kuwait’s Amiri Diwan – the office of the emir – will be located in Flag Square next to Kuwait’s Al Salam Palace.

Sketches of the development show that it will comprise a 3,200 seat theatre, a convention hall, studios, a music centre, an archive, a children’s library and Amiri Diwan offices. The scheme will also include a VIP reception hall, an outdoor theatre, a flag-hoisting stand and shops and cafes.

DSI Kuwait will undertake supply, installation, testing and commissioning of plumbing and firefighting works, which it says will be completed by October next year.

At the same time, DSI Kuwait also said that it had signed a Dh60m contract to complete mechanical, electrical and plumbing work for a health care facility in the port area of Shuwaikh to the west of Kuwait City and two office blocks in Al Qebla on the outskirts of Kuwait City.

The work includes renovation and maintenance along with replacement of chillers, electric main panels and boards. DSI said that its work at the health care facility was “already in advance stages” and would be complete by next March, while the commercial developments would complete by June next year.

“Kuwait remains an important market for DSI and an important contributor to the company’s revenue stream,” said Mahmoud Sabri, DSI Kuwait’s general manager. “We are prepared to undertake more work as Kuwait embarks on its ambitious expansion plans this year.”

shares closed unmoved at Dh1.76 each yesterday.

“News of this new contract has to be taken as positive,” said Julian Bruce, a director at EFG Hermes. “But it is not positive enough to make a big difference to the share price. In the current market, news of awards like this are not causing as much of a flutter as they used to do. We continue to reiterate our sell rating for DSI because we believe that, like many companies in the UAE, the stock is currently overvalued.”

In recent years Kuwait’s pace of infrastructure development has lagged behind that of the country’s GCC peers, as frequent political fighting between an elected legislature and the cabinet appointed by the prime minister has often hampered the approval of major development projects.

At the end of last year, Kuwait Finance House reported that Kuwait had US$188bn of projects underway, with plans to further increase its construction budget.

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