Aldar awards $578m Yas Island mall deal

A unit of Egypt's Orascom Construction won the main €416m ($578m) construction contract to build a mall in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the firm said on Sunday. The contract for Yas Mall, a retail development on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, was awarded to Six Construct, which is fully owned by BESIX Group, itself a 50-50 joint venture between OCI and Belgian construction group Besix. Six Construct will build a 235,000 square metre retail area, a parking lot, and associated infrastructure, the firm said in a statement. UAE's Aldar Properties, which is developing the mall, had previously announced it gave the award to OCI, without giving the value of the contract. The total area for the project, expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2013, is about 1.2 million square metres. OCI, Egypt's biggest listed firm, posted a 15 percent rise in second-quarter net profit and has said it expected construction orders to grow this year as governments in the Middle East try to create jobs by boosting infrastructure spending.