Dogmatick

I looked forwards to see if an 3 are bookable on the LHR route and found nothing so far, I do hope so

Dogmatick

"Originally slated to open in 2017, the Midfield terminal has been hit by a series of embarrassing delays. In 2019, the Midfield terminal was claimed to be more than 97 per cent complete. On Sunday, the airport confirmed that zero progress had been made in the last three years and the building remains in the same state as it did before the pandemic."

Just found this article dated Jan 2nd 22, nothing done for 3 years is pretty embarrassing, still nothing out there suggesting an actual date as yet sadly

SinkOrSwim

They're still finishing off a pipeline (which discharges into the sea) and there's been loads of landscaping and finishing work going on around the roads leading up to it. I don't believe that nothing has happened in 3 years as it's been a constantly active constriction site throughout. I still think it will open this year.

The rather convenient new excuse for recent delays is probably the alleged Houthi bombing of the construction site in January.

IntrepidAfrican2

Saving face is just as important as the body of work left (which by almost all accounts isn’t substantial, and hasn’t been for a while now).

The folk in Abu Dhabi are acutely sensitive to negative comparisons with Dubai in particular, and other major cities in the region in general. They will only open the airport if they feel it does not look like a white elephant. With Eithad continuing to struggle, this is a challenge. While this year is not impossible, I have doubts that will happen. Spoken to multiple people directly involved in the project (from financing to construction) and they all say the same.

As for work progress, I believe it was the airport itself that announced in January that there has not been any work done in the last two years (from memory).

Happy to be proven wrong, but I’ve spent the last decade and a half doing business in the region, and Abu Dhabi doing strange things has been the near-constant.

Dogmatick

Yes my quote was from the airport itself apparently, perhaps they were referring to the terminal itself as opposed to the surrounding infrastructure which as described here has been worked on quite a bit especially the link roads

blue2002

It does not have to function, but it must be pretty. This is the way.

csdf

Pretty on the surface, broken underneath.

IntrepidAfrican2

Road works in the UAE are another whole conversation, but essentially that’s a form of pork barrel politics where companies owned or controlled by locals are given rolling contracts to “repair” roads that are in perfect shape, or build roads that aren’t particularly necessary. They money has to to keep flowing to keep certain families happy, but handouts look bad.

stargold

The MTB access roads are/were being built by China State, so in this case it is just the garden variety horrendous construction delays, rather than anything more nefarious.

IntrepidAfrican2

It’s nigh impossible for foreign construction companies to do major work without local partners. It’s pretty much a pre-condition.

stargold

But that has nothing to do with the fact that the MTB roads have always been heavily delayed in construction from the beginning, even more so than the terminal itself until just before Covid (when they finally caught up somewhat).

I'm not sure what you're really trying to convey about MTB roads in particular, rather than roads in the UAE generally.

steveholt

About that hat....

SinkOrSwim

Unfortunately I no longer own a hat of any description

Dogmatick

Happy to provide one lol

IntrepidAfrican2

I’m trying to convey that road works ongoing have absolutely nothing to do with the actual opening. You need roads to open, but roads being built / rebuilt or repaired doesn’t mean that the opening is imminent or happening.