Abu Dhabi cancels $3 billion airport terminal contract: report

Four people familiar with the matter told Reuters that the state-owned airport operator in Abu Dhabi has cancelled its contract with a consortium that is building a 10.8 billion dirham (2.94 billion U.S. dollars) terminal at the emirate’s main airport.

The group consists of a headquartered in the United Arab Emirates Arab technology co., Turkish TAV construction And Athens Joint contractor company (CCC) was awarded a contract to build a midfield terminal at Abu Dhabi International Airport in 2012.

One of the sources said that the state-owned Abu Dhabi Airport cancelled the contract after the group overspent the cost of the project.

Abu Dhabi Airport and TAV Insaat declined to comment. Representatives of Arabtec and CCC, who applied for liquidation in January, could not be reached for comment.

The terminal is still under construction and was planned to open in 2017, but has been plagued by delays for many years. Abu Dhabi Airport stated in 2019 that 97.6% of the construction of the new terminal has been completed.

Two sources said that Trojan, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, has been awarded a contract to complete the construction of the terminal.

The Trojan did not respond to a request for comment.

The new 700,000 square meter terminal should support the development of Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. When the project started, the state-owned airline was seeking to build a major transit hub in the region. UAE Capital, but since then, it has restructured and reduced its ambitions.

The cancellation of the contract is also at a time when the tourism industry has fallen into a severe recession due to the pandemic.