Friday, May 7, 2010

Omani firm to supply quartz stone tiles for Dubai Metro

By V L Srinivasan

Muscat, May 1 - Superior quartz stones from Oman will adorn the stations in the second phase of the prestigious Dubai Metro rail project.

The Dubai Metro has asked Sohar-based Gulf Stone Company, which produces quartz based engineered stone, to supply the same for the second phase of the 'green line' project.

This is the second time the company will provide quartz stones to the Dubai Metro. Its quartz stone tiles have already been used for flooring and side walls in the Khalid bin al Waleed, Mall of the Emirates and other railway stations in the first phase of the project.

The total length of the second phase of the Metro between Al Ghusais and Al Jadaf is 23km. The company has already supplied more than 70,000sq m of quartz stone for the first phase. The second phase is likely to be opened on October 10 this year.

Confirming the negotiations with Dubai Metro, Gulf Stone general manager Abdulmonem al Murshidi said that the talks were on for the supply agreement. "The details of the deal are to be finalised within a week," he told Muscat Daily.

Interestingly, Gulf Stone is the only company which has been chosen from among the Arab world for providing the material. Besides Gulf Stone, another company from Iran is supplying the material but in small quantities, the rest of the supplies are from Europe and Asia.

Murshidi said that his company has been procuring the raw material from India and with the exclusive technology acquired from the Italy-based Breton SPA. The high density tiles are made of granules of high grade quartz/silica (91-92 per cent) and blended with engineered polyester resin, an organic compound which acts as a bonding agent.

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