Media

Big 5: Infrastructure in Gulf ’10 years behind’

ConstructionWeekOnline.com – November 2010

Infrastructure in the Gulf region is ‘dramatically behind’ the rest of the developed world, according to Kevin Davis, director of sales for Kryton.

“What we’re looking at now is the infrastructure element, so if you look at places like Saudi Arabia and the UAE also, [there is] very substantial investment in infrastructure underway,” he noted.

“If you look at Saudi Arabia, it is about eight or ten years behind where it needs to be for infrastructure; it needs better water management systems and it needs better airports.”

Davis also believes that the Gulf market won’t be able to sustain its high-end housing market growth, and said that it was likely that there would be a shift in focus towards the mid section of the market, which would make the market far more sustainable.

“I think you’ll see that sustained for the next eight or ten years, because there’s still not enough inventory for it in the market,” he said.

Davis said that Kryton was able to continue to grow its market share throughout the financial crisis, albeit slowly, due to its product having such a significant presence on the market. Kryton manufactures Krystol, a waterproofing membrane that protects concrete structures against potential water damage.

“What it also allowed us to do was to develop another part of our business. We are able to focus on our surface application systems for existing concrete, and continued to develop that. The financial crisis hit us for sure, but we continued to grow,” he said.

Davis added that in 2009, the company saw 20% growth over 2008. In 2010, he said there was a 50% growth over the previous year’s figures, equating to hundreds of tonnes of material being exported into the region.