Abu Dhabi’s Plowing Ahead With These 10 Mega Projects During an Oil Slump

Abu Dhabi, which sits on about 6 percent of the world’s oil reserves, has pushed ahead with a construction program that began before crude prices slumped in 2014. From Louvre Abu Dhabi, a new airport terminal and a nuclear power plant, here are the 10 biggest projects underway in the sheikdom. With a combined value of 134 billion dirhams ($37 billion), they’re expected to be completed by 2020, according to a list provided by the government this month in response to questions from Bloomberg.

Louvre Abu Dhabi
The Jean Nouvel-designed building, covered in a white dome and surrounded by water, is set for completion by the end of May. The $1.14-billion facility includes a children’s museum and a 280-seat theatre.

Barakah Nuclear Power Plant
The first nuclear plant in the United Arab Emirates will supply 25 percent of its electricity needs from May 2020, according to the Emirates Nuclear Energy Cooperation. The $23 billion-project includes four reactors producing a combined 5,600 megawatts.

Midfield Airport Terminal
At a cost of $3.5 billion, Abu Dhabi’s new terminal will have 49 gates and double the airports capacity to 30 million passengers a year. Built over six levels, it will include a hotel, shops and restaurants when it’s finished in January 2019.

Sewage Tunnel
At 41 kilometers (25 miles) in length, Abu Dhabi says its sewage tunnel is among the world’s longest. With an additional 43 kilometers of smaller linking tunnels, the $1.5 billion project is due to be completed in the third quarter of this year.

E11 Highway
The new highway and road upgrade program will link Abu Dhabi with the Saudi border, via the industrial hub of Ruwais— the site of the U.A.E.’s first nuclear plant. The project includes 15 flyovers, and costs $1.5 billion.

Zayed City infrastructure
The government says the road network, sewage, lighting, electricity and water infrastructure for Zayed City, a new district in Abu Dhabi, is about 19 percent complete. The $909 million project is expected to be finished by January 2020.

Jabel Hafeet Housing Development
At a cost of $1.5 billion, the project near Al Ain includes homes for 3,000 people, including a school, a clinic and other facilities. It is due to be finished by the end of the year.

Al Ain New Hospital
The 719-bed hospital will have cost $1.2 billion when completed in December 2018. Al Ain is the second biggest city in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the fourth-largest in the U.A.E. after Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

Ain Al Faida Residential Development
Another residential project in Al Ain, the $1.14 billion government project includes homes for 2,000 people, and will be completed by the end of July.

Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City
The first U.A.E. hospital to provide advanced treatment for burns, it includes 739 beds when it opens at the end of January at a cost of $1.1 billion.

Bloomberg