SiAl Qatar Sets Up State-Of-The-Art Glass Processing Facility

New Company To Invest 25 Million Euros To Set Up One Of The Largest Glass Processing Facilities In The Region

Doha, Qatar, April 2, 2008: Special Projects Company, Al Seal Contracting & Trading, Nasser Bin Khalid & Sons Holding Company (NBKS), along with strategic investors, are setting up a state-of-the-art glass processing facility to cater to the increasing demand for architectural glass in the region. The new company, SiAl Qatar will be one of the largest glass processing facilities in the region with an investment of 25 million Euros towards facilities, plants and equipment.

The exponential growth in regional glass consumption driven by over 2.4 trillion US dollars worth of real estate projects has led to a serious shortfall in the ability of façade contractors to ramp up production capacity or to secure a steady supply to keep up with the aggressive project schedules. According to Suraj Thampi, Managing Director SiAl, “SiAl Qatar will help invigorate local and international contractors to participate in the high value building envelope projects, without having to worry about production constraints and supply chain issues. We will be uniquely positioning ourselves as contractual project based production partners capable of value additions like engineered Unitized panel production”.

The plant, currently under construction will be able to produce tempered, laminated and insulated glass along with an upward integration into two unitized glazing panel production lines. SiAl will be able to produce over one million square meters of processed glass a year and by the third quarter 2009 will be able to produce over two million square meters through its processing plants.

SiAl will be commissioning the largest tempering plants, lamination plants, robotic insulating plants, cutting, grinding and polishing lines with technology from industry leading manufacturers like Lisec & Tamglass, where the immediate and primary focus will be to cater to the demands within Qatar.

“We will be catering to local requirements of processed clear glass primarily used within buildings for partitions, shower doors, shop fronts etc with the shortest turnaround time by maintaining local stock and having the largest, most advanced processing units to support the growing demands”, added the Managing Director.

SiAl will be partnering with large and small volume contractors of architectural glazing on a project to project basis, augmenting their production capabilities while enabling them to bid, manage and execute more projects with a focus on contractual project management.

According to Mr. Hussein Siddiqi, Chief Operations Officer, Nasser Bin Khalid Holding Company, “The glazing industry is a strategic investment for us especially given the focus that we have in developing primary and secondary sector industries catering to the regional economic boom”.

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About SiAl Qatar:
SiAl Qatar is a newly incorporated company and is a joint venture between Nasser Bin Khalid & Sons Holding Company (NBKS), Al Seal Contracting & Trading, Special Projects Company & a few other investors. The new company, SiAl Qatar will be one of the largest glass processing facilities in the region capable of producing over one million square meters of processed glass a year and by the third quarter 2009 will be able to produce over two million square meters through its processing plants.