Arabtec Construction gets a new chief executive

Arabtec Construction, the leading construction company in the UAE, has appointed a new CEO to lead the firm, which is wholly owned by Arabtec Holding. Raja Ghanma has been promoted from his former post as chief operating officer to that of chief execuitive of Arabtec Construction, Arabtec Holding said in a statement. Ghanma started as a Construction Manager at Arabtec Construction L.L.C in the early 1990’s. During his career he has launched successful new divisions, among them the Arabtec Eastern Model, an architectural model division, Arabtec Precast; and Arabtec Slipform and Arabtec Trading.

A $40 billion deal to construct one million low-income housing units in Egypt ran into problems in June 2014 when Arabtec’s former chief executive Hasan Ismaik resigned unexpectedly. Under Mr Ismaik’s leadership, the Abu Dhabi-based construction firm had pursued a new strategy of expansion, establishing a property development company in December 2013 with the aim of entering the affordable housing sector across the region.

With Ghanma’s appointment the company will be in a position to leverage its position as the preferred contractor to the Abu Dhabi Government-owned finance house Aabar Investment, which in 2012 became the majority shareholder, taking a number of seats on the board.