Contractors involved at the early stages of any new construction project are finding the market tough, even as money moves back into jobs put on hold in 2009.
Piling and foundation companies continue to find the market flat, as contractors involved in the later stages of construction are getting some relief.
“The market for piling and foundations has not improved at all since the middle of 2008,” said Ras Al Khaimah-based Al Nuaimi Foundations & Concrete division manager Kochummini Mukundan. “And that is why we’re waiting in hope for the time when the market gets better.”
Shad Asif Khan, general manager for piling contractor Keller Grundbau, agrees with Mukundan over the current market situation and backs up his opinion with a simple fact.
“The number of piling rigs available in the market is still much more than the demand for them, because construction activity is still not as much as it was back in 2008,” he says.
The surplus of machinery emerged at the end of the construction boom, when demand, which had been driven by tower projects, dissipated.