Although the Gulf Arab construction sector witnesses a comeback fuelled by high oil prices and a return of investor confidence, executives from global construction- related firms are more modest in their projections.

The rebound in Gulf Arab real estate development, especially in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Saudi Arabia, has not triggered a building hype like before the global financial crisis, said experts from different countries at the ongoing four-day construction fair "Big 5 in Dubai", the largest of its kind in the Middle East.

According to research firm Ventures Middle East, the Gulf Arab region has real estate and infrastructure projects worth 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars in the pipeline, amid a fast-growing population and the Arab states' need to diversify their economies away from oil and gas.

However, fierce competition, an ongoing sluggish mood in the construction sector, and the new demand for quality and green building standards have transformed business in Gulf Arab construction sector into an uphill-struggle.

The region launched a wide range of projects include railyways, new airports, comercial and residential real estate, as well as oil pipelines or power generation facilities.

Royee Han, an account manager at China National Building Material Company, or CNBM, said that whilst the Gulf region was " promising," growth was still slow. "Confidence is back, but we still feel the fallout from the financial crisis," said Han.

Han added that CNBM, China's largest cement and gypsum producer and number one in Asian glass fiber production, witnessed more growth in its home market and in neighboring countries like Russia or Uzbekistan, whereas for the Gulf Arab region "we expect another modest period next year, but a strong pickup in 2014."

Thorsten Schneider, business unit manager of Gulf region at Germany's industrial giant Henkel, which is the world's largest producer of adhesives, said he was more bullish on Saudi Arabia than on the UAE, not only because Saudi Arabia has the region's largest population (around 29 million people).

"The oil-rich kingdom has a housing gap of 5 million homes, while residential construction in the UAE is much more volatile and speculative," said Schneider, adding that Qatar will remain on a growth path due its construction projects to prepare for the FIFA football world club it will host in 2022.

Schneider's comments are in line with Citigroup's latest analysis on the region, in which the U.S. bank said that whilst the Dubai real estate market celebrated a comeback, there were also "early signs of exuberance," such as the re-emergence of off- plan sales and the risks of excessive supply given some of the recently-announced projects.

In Dubai, where Henkel was responsible for bonding together 100, 000 square meters of parquet floor in the world's tallest, 2010- inaugurated building, the 828-meter-high Burj Khalifa, Schneider said for a Western firm it is important a strong brand and high emphasis on quality are the keys to counter the increasing competition from producers from East Asia.

Because the government of Dubai has made it mandatory for builders to abide by LEED standards, a global green building scheme to ensure energy and water efficiency of a building, U.S. chemicals maker DuPont used BIG 5 fair in Dubai to launch a new series of colors for building surfaces, which the company said are more resistant to the impact of sunlight on a building. The new products were meant "to serve the region's booming construction industry's needs for energy saving systems," said Tony Azzam, DuPont's regional manager for Turkey, Middle East and Africa.

"It is all about innovation," said Adrie van Houten, managing director and global vice president of Dutch surface preparation firm Blastrac, adding that the Gulf region's developers became very demanding on quality and delivery.

The mood in the construction sector is more positive, he said, but if a firm does not come up every year with new products it will lose out. He added that Blastrac invests 25 percent of its annual revenue into the research and development.

Thamim Ansari, senior branch manager at Dubai-based Danube, the Middle East's largest building material company by market share, said that despite the massive influx of foreign competitors into the Gulf region, his firm's leading position has not been jeopardized.

Danube, Ansari said, is a one-stop shop with 30,000 products in the portfolio, like glass, wood, ceramics and cables, and because other firms enter with only a few or sometimes one product, they fail to succeed in the Gulf Arab region.

Regarding the business sentiment, Ansari said the prospects are much better than last year, "but we see a steady market growth and not an excess like before 2008." Nevertheless, Danube is hiring again. "Currently Danube is short of 10 branch managers," he said.