Middle East blows for Ellaktor
Greek construction company Ellaktor has missed out on a contract for the building of a Cleveland Clinic hospital unit at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The contract was this week won by a Belgian-Korean consortium, which asked for an estimated $1.3 billion in the second proclamation of the tender. Ellaktor and its partner Arabtec had emerged as winners of the tender’s first proclamation in 2008, asking for $1.9 billion, but Mubadala Healthcare and Aldar Properties PJSC decided to call the tender again to secure a lower price. Therefore the contract for the 364-bed hospital has gone to the SSJV consortium. There is also stagnation in another major project involving Ellaktor in the Middle East, as the Blue City urban development project in Oman has been hit by the Moody’s downgrade of the bonds issued to fund its first stage, as they are now considered a high credit risk. Ellaktor, along with Turkey’s Enka Group, have undertaken the completion of this first stage.
