Business & Finance Club - RIYADH - About 720 urban projects including residential and commercial buildings and projects in the sectors of education, health care and recreation are being executed in the Kingdom with a cost of more than SR1.6 trillion.

These projects constitute 25 percent of the construction and urban movement in the Arabian Gulf, which puts the country on top of region's construction markets.

The increasing attention paid to the Saudi Construction Exhibition 2010 an international exhibition on construction technology and materials to be held from Oct. 18 to 21 and to the Saudi Exhibition for Stone Technology 2010, to be held at the same time, reflects the pioneering position of the Kingdom's construction markets. The two exhibitions, to be organized by Riyadh Exhibitions Company, will be convened with the participation of 42 national pavilions. The international participation has recorded a 12 percent increase with the expected first-time participation of Belgium, Egypt, United Kingdom, France and Taiwan.

Shahid Bahti, Director of the two exhibitions at Riyadh Exhibitions Company, said several confirmations for participation have been received.

He said the local construction sector grew by 3.9 percent last year during the global economic crisis, adding that with positive expectations for the global economy this year, "we expect local and international investment in one of the strongest sectors in the Kingdom (construction and real estate development) to increase."