DUBAL delegation visits EMAL project site

Comprising His Excellency Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer (Vice Chairman), Mohammad Al Ghurair (Board Member), Abdulla Kalban (CEO) and Dr. Abdulrahman Al Awar (Director: Corporate Development, New Smelters).

The project - which is the product of a joint venture between DUBAL and Mubadala Development Company, known as Emirates Aluminium ('EMAL') International - entails the development of a 1.4 million tonne per annum primary aluminium smelter plus associated utilities and infrastructure, in two equal phases. The first 700,000 tonne phase is scheduled for completion in 2010, with the first metal being tapped in 2011.

While on site, the DUBAL delegation met with members of EMAL's senior management team, notably Duncan Hedditch (CEO), Salman Dawood Salman (COO), and Yousuf Abdulla Bastaki (Project Director), among others.

After a presentation on the project's progress, opportunities and challenges since its inception - the EPCM contracts for phase one were awarded during a historic groundbreaking ceremony on 31 May 2007; and on-site activities started in early-December 2007 with ground improvement works and site levelling work - Mr Bastaki led the delegates on a construction site tour, where detailed explanations were given of the various site activities along with updates on the overall site progress.

The project is on track, with overall progress at 12%. Engineering work is 30% complete; Power Plant concrete/stone piling work is 100% complete; and, in the potline area, stone column piling has progressed to 85%.

Currently, there are nine contractors on site with more than 1,500 workers carrying out preparatory civil work for the first mass concrete, planned for May 2008.

A 'meet and greet' opportunity was facilitated at the end of the visit, allowing the delegates to meet with the DUBAL Secondees, EMAL Key Managers and EPCM Management team.

Clearly impressed by the progress to date, His Excellency expressed his appreciation of what he had seen and wished the team good luck on meeting the future challenges so as to achieve the set milestones.