THE SKY IS THE LIMIT: Major construction works are on hold in Dubai

It is mostly SA construction companies that have been affected by the downturn in Dubai.

Construction giant Murray & Roberts, which benefited handsomely from the boom in the region recent years, announced earlier this year that a R5-billion contract for Dubai International Airport had been withdrawn, along with another for the Trump Towers Dubai.

On Friday the company announced that it was confident it would receive money owed for work already carried out on the airport. "Murray & Roberts and its partners ... continue to progress final account settlement of the Dubai International Airport." It said that, while progress was slow, it was confident of its contractual rights.

It added: "The only contract to which Murray & Roberts was exposed with Nakheel was Trump Tower. This contract was terminated and all accounts settled in full within the previous financial year."

Another construction giant, Group Five, which also had two contracts cancelled this year, also issued a statement to shareholders on Friday advising that it "does not have any exposure to Dubai World or to its real estate subsidiary Nakheel".

It said it was involved in infrastructure development in the region and "thus its client base is excluded from the Dubai debt moratorium". Contracts cancelled at the beginning of the year were being resolved.

Investment bank Investec, the "lead arranger" in the V&A Waterfront deal, put out a statement saying: "Our financing arrangements in terms of this project matured on 31 March 2009 and we have been repaid in full. Investec has no exposure to Dubai World."

FirstRand, Nedbank, Standard Bank and Investec all told financial website Moneyweb on Friday that they were not directly exposed to Dubai World or to Nakheel. Absa said its exposure was also limited to the waterfront deal. "The loan for the V&A Waterfront is a non-recourse property finance transaction. Thus no reliance was placed on the financial standing of the owners. We are comfortable with the performance of the entity."