Harsco Corporation (NYSE: HSC) has announced that its SGB access services division has been awarded a major new contract valued at approximately $5.5 million to provide formwork equipment and services during Phase I construction of Dubai’s Jebel Ali Airport City project.

Known as Dubai World Central (DWC), the 54 square mile complex will include one of the world’s largest airports as well as one of the world’s largest multi-modal logistics hubs, Dubai Logistics City, aimed at serving the logistics requirements of the Middle East through at least 2050. Once completed, DWC is expected to handle up to 120 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo annually in a massive complex equal to Chicago’s O’Hare and London’s Heathrow combined.

SGB’s contract from the Kuwait-based M A Kharafi Group follows the award to Kharafi of the turnkey construction responsibilities for the Dubai Logistics City headquarters and office complex, which is scheduled for completion in early 2009 as part of Phase I of the project, and the construction of two Central Utility Complexes which will provide centralized cooling. SGB’s formwork will be used for the pouring and curing of cast-in-place concrete walls, floors, and structural columns.

SGB will support the project from its local SGB Quebeisi subsidiary, which has been operating as one of the region’s leading formwork and scaffolding services providers for more than 30 years. SGB has served as a major access equipment and services provider to many of Dubai’s “signature” buildings, including the recently-completed Terminal 3 expansion at Dubai International Airport and the 600 acre Discovery Gardens complex. Harsco’s Hünnebeck division is also increasingly active in the region, with ongoing projects that include formwork for the Burj Dubai, now under construction as the world’s tallest skyscraper, and the Al Attar Tower, Dubai’s second-tallest building, where Hünnebeck is supplying its self-climbing formwork system.

Significant follow-on opportunities are expected as the DWC project moves through additional phases of development and construction. Plans include several smaller "cities" that will cater to the financial, industrial, service and tourism needs connected to the aviation industry, including a commercial city of more than 850 mid- to high-rise towers and a high-rise residential city. Construction levels throughout the region remain buoyant with continuing high levels of growth in infrastructure and high-rise development, particularly in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar where Harsco’s Access Services businesses are strongly positioned.