Construction on the Sidra Medical and Research Center will commence “imminently” with two new contractors who have been tasked with completing the much-delayed hospital complex, Qatar Foundation has announced.
QF, which is funding Sidra with a $7.9 billion endowment, has signed on local construction company Midmac W.L.L., which will operate under a joint venture with Consolidated Contractors Group S.A.L. (Offshore) (CCC).
Midmac has worked with QF before, helping to construct Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Texas A&M College of Engineering at Qatar and the Liberal Arts & Science Building.
It also has its hands in several upcoming projects around Qatar, including hospitals, stadiums and roadworks.
Midmac was also the main contractor on a bridge collapse accident in the under-construction Lusail City in 2012, which injured 18 men.
The company did not comment on that accident, but the Guardian reported weeks later that Lusail construction workers had complained about working and living conditions.
Meanwhile, Greece-based CCC is the largest construction company in the Middle East, and its former projects include the Dubai Mall and LNG plants in Qatar.
Lawsuit
The new contractors have been brought in days after QF sacked Spanish firm OHL and Contrack International.
In an official letter to the London Stock Exchange this week, publicly listed OHL said QF was claiming the project was late and that the contractors missed their deadlines.
The original JV had entered a $2.4 million agreement with QF in 2008, with plans to open the complex in 2011. That date has been pushed back many times.
In May, Sidra officials backtracked on the most recently proposed timeline of a 2015 opening, saying they were still waiting for construction to be completed.
However, OHL disputes that it was behind schedule and has said it plans to sue QF over what happened.
In a statement sent last night, QF did not discuss the impending lawsuit. Going forward, it said:
“The MIDMAC/CCC Joint Venture expects to commence its operations imminently, and hopes to employ a number of sub-contractors previously engaged by the OHL/Contrack Joint Venture, thereby preserving the knowledge of the Sidra facilities and expertise which has been accumulated thus far.
Sidra, located in Education City, Doha, is of considerable strategic importance for the people of Qatar, as the nation continues its journey towards the realisation of a knowledge economy. The facility has three essential missions: world-class patient care, medical education, and biomedical research, and aims to be a regional leader in both the provision of, and innovation behind, the highest quality of healthcare.”
Thoughts?
Note: This article has been corrected to reflect that CCC is headquartered in Greece, not Jordan.
CCC Jordan based? I always thought it was based in Greece
I believe you are correct, the Commercial Registration I have on file says it is a “Lebanese” company headquartered (aka based) in Athens, Greece. That is from a few years ago, so maybe it has changed, but I doubt it.
They might be simply playing with the names and location in order to avoid taxes, like most companies now do. Now the fact that it is based in Jordan is definitely not a good point. You do not really get the highest standards from Jordan and Arab companies in general.
Some companies have many companies within the group, headquartered in different countries, but uses the same set of people for different projects within the same country. Depending on the client and the nature of the project, the appropriate letterhead will be used while bidding.
I’ve corrected it to say Greece. My mistake!
Deliberately opaque…..
CCC is a Lebanese construction company based in Greece. Has nothing to do with Jordan.
CCC did not build any LNG plant in Qatar. All LNG plants in Qatar were built by either French or Japanese firms. CCC may have been one of three dozens sub contractors who did civil work around the plant. LNG have very specific propitery technology involved in their construction, hence why the cost billions of dollars to build. There are only maybe 6 companies in the who world who can build an LNG plant.
According to the CCC website, they have built more than a few LNG trains in Qatar, and the Middle East. I wonder then how they can get away with such lies as this one published in a 2007 company release:
“When CCC was involved in the construction of the first LNG Train on Das-Island in the 70’s, we had no idea that CCC will become, in less than four decades, the world’s largest LNG Constructor.
Since 1974, CCC has built more than 12 LNG Trains throughout the Middle East and by 2010 CCC would have built 17 LNG trains with a total production capacity of 82 MTPA, which is around a third of the world production capacity by 2010 (Estimated at 244 MTPA).
This tremendous growth in CCC’s LNG construction market would not have been possible without our special and reciprocal relationship with the major EPC players (Chiyoda & JGC). We pride ourselves with the exceptional relationship we have with these engineering giants.”
Can you believe they even have the courage to print this:
“It is a matter of pride for CCC to be associated with the construction of all the eight trains currently operational in Qatar i.e. QATAR GAS Trains 1, 2 & 3, RASGAS Trains 1 & 2 and RASGAS EXPANSION Trains 3, 4 & 5. Six more are under construction, of varying capacities and in the development of RAS LAFFAN as a whole.”
It’s almost as if the company genuinely believes that it spends its time working as a subcontractor providing construction services for LNG companies.
You are correct, CCC has been involved in the construction of LNG trains. To play devils advocate, if A_qtr is using the term “build” to imply the full scope of design, engineer, procure, and construct, then he is correct in that CCC has never “built” any LNG trains, but they sure have constructed a heck-of-a lot of them!
dohanews.co used the term “build” to imply the full scope of work not me, a more fitting reference would be “major sub contractor” to clearly highlight their role.. as I said only half a dozen companies out there can actually put an LNG plant together… as i believe these companies have rights to the different technologies used in an LNG plant ….
I’m with you A_qtr, the term “build” to me also implies more than construction.
You are correct, the prime contractor (in these cases, JGC and Chiyoda) have process license agreements with companies who provide the proprietary technology relating to LNG trains, then the prime contractor does the remainder of the design and engineering, procures the appropriate equipment and materials, and then hires numerous subcontractors (CCC being one) to physically put all the pieces together at site.
That is the correct summary. CCC are the hired hands who are told what to do in far as construction is concerned.
i stand corrected, they are the single largest sub contractor of all heavy civil work involved in building LNG plants in Qatar ..
To be fair, CCC does more than civil works; they do civil, mechanical, piping, electrical & instrumentation etc, etc. The whole 9 yards of “construction”, but not design or engineering.
Main Contractors (including CCC) are little more than process Management Contractors. They may have their own civils labour but just about everything else is carried out by specialist Sub-Contractors. So a Main Contractor can make a mess of things through bad project management of his subbies or it can be his subbies that screw up – for which the main Contractor carries the can.
CCC only works either in joint venture with international companies like Chiyoda, Technip, etc. or as a subcontractor for large oil and gas projects.
Is that the same CCC that was just recently involved in a high profile bribery case in Oman with a number of it’s employees receiving jail sentences….. Just staying.
Different subsidiary but same company. Gives a lot of confidence that the Sidra hospital construction is back on a good track right? Does make you wonder what sort of qualification process QF utilizes, if any.
Still part of the CCC group and allegations have been levelled against them for years in the gulf for ‘brown paper’ envelope bidding processes. However Oman is the only place I can remember they have been successfully prosecuted. The obvious problem if they punish a contractor for paying bribes, then what about the local who received them. (In Oman they have taken the unusual step of jailing locals as well in the scandal)
Too bad Qatar doesn’t do the same…
And they prosecute their own Nationals for road violations too…
Maybe that is why Oman is quite a nice place to drive?
Just saying!
I have worked for CCC for almost 7 years and if I have to rate this company from 1-10, I would give it a rating of 5. This is an Arab owned company although it has its main office in Athens, Greece. Previously it ranked as the no. 1 construction company in the Middle East (only). I am not sure where it is now when I left the company in 2002. I have been told that work conditions with the company was better when it was still under the Old Management which I am not fortunate enough to experience when I was employed in 1996. Although I can say it is a fairly good company, the discrimination is very evident there. Benefits and priviliges lean more generously in favor of Arab employees which should not be the case for an international company that is expected to be non-discriminatory and will provide fair and equal opportunitees for all. For TCNs like Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis, etc., that is understandable perhaps. Arabs own it and they are only there for the job, not to dispute the sad realities of working for an Arab owned company.