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UAE firm scoops Afghan Defense University contract

 

MVL has secured the contract for Phase 3 of the Afghan Defense University.

The UAE-based defence contractor will be the second firm to take on this phase of the project, following an unsuccessful initial attempt by a rival outfit.

Phase 3 of the university build has been valued at approximately $80m, and is expected to take around 600 days to complete.

“The purpose of the Afghan Defense University is to educate future generations of Afghan military officers,” explained MVL’s business development manager, John Hilker, who spearheaded the contractor’s proposal.

“A mixture of accommodation and administration buildings comprise the facility that we are going to be constructing; more than 100 buildings in total.

“I think that MVL’s proposal stood out because of our experience working on job sites that have had issues previously; restarted projects. This is a project that another outfit had tried to start, but failed. With the previous attempt, I think that the contractor overextended itself and had difficulties related to the challenges of working in Afghanistan,” he told CW..

MVL concedes that it too will have to overcome significant challenges during the course of the project, but is confident that it has an effective strategy when it comes to both workforce and operational partnerships.

“The Afghan Defense University is a large contract with an aggressive schedule. At peak times, we expect to have more than 2,000 people working on the job site,” revealed Hilker.

Abie Musa, managing director of MVL, added: “Our approach to previous contracts played a deciding role in the award of this project. From our side, the formula that we will use in executing this project will be very similar to that used during other projects, both in terms of how we handle ourselves and our approach to subcontractors. In large part, this will include rewarding the subcontractors that have worked well with us on previous projects, as opposed to punishing them by not letting them participate.”

MVL expects to begin work on Phase 3 of the Afghan Defense University within the next two weeks. The project is scheduled to complete by the first quarter of 2017.

Source: Construction Week online

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