Build King in growth drive

Build King Holdings plans to aggressively expand its civil engineering business in Dubai and the Yangtze River Delta this year, a move that has been prompted by the sluggish state of Hong Kong's construction sector.

The company, a unit of construction and infrastructure firm Wai Kee Holdings, said it did not want to 'put all its eggs in one basket' in Hong Kong, and hoped to derive a third of its revenue from overseas by 2008, up from 15 per cent last year.

'Most Hong Kong contractors are still struggling, and I don't expect the situation to improve dramatically this year,' said chairman Derek Zen Wei-peu. 'In the short term, we cannot expect the local construction industry to be as booming as it was in 1999.'

Build King is one of several locally based construction companies that have been expanding overseas in the past several years - moves triggered by Hong Kong's shrinking market.

The firm sees opportunities in fast-growing Dubai, where the government has ambitious plans to make it a regional financial hub like Hong Kong.

The company, which shipped some of its construction equipment to Dubai last November, was bidding for marine construction projects there, and hoped to secure at least one project by the end of the year, Mr Zen said. Investment in its target project would be less than $300 million, he added.

'Dubai is one of the hottest cities in the world in terms of construction works,' Mr Zen said. 'It's a natural expansion for us.'