Mabetex Group is a civil engineering and construction company founded in 1991 by Behgjet Pacolli. The company, headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, specialises in the construction and renovation of large buildings. Mabetex has carried out works on a turnkey base such as the restoration of historical buildings, the construction and planning of administrative and public buildings, as well as industrial plants and urban projects. Mabetex Group is best known for its renovation of Kremlin. Kremlin the Residence of the President of Russian Federation, , 17 March 1999

Corporate structure

Mabetex Group is the mother company of several businesses found and owned by Behgjet Pacolli. The core company within the Mabetex Group is the civil engineering bureau Mabco Constructions SA, formerly known as Mabetex Project Engineering SA, located in Lugano.Northdata (ed.): Mabco Constructions SA, Lugano 2 Paradiso Caselle, Schweiz, retrieved 5 May 2022 Mabetex specialises in large scale civil engineering which comprises construction and renovation of big buildings and building complexes. The Group has had many projects in former Soviet Union states.Arta Ante: State Building and Development, disserta, Hamburg 2010, p. 160 Other firms within the Mabetex Group specialise in insurance and public broadcasting.Antonio Giangrande: ANNO 2021 LA GIUSTIZIA NONA PARTE, 2021, p. 69 Mabco Constructions SA had, in 1997, an annual revenue of CHF 630 million;Jürg Bischoff: Des Kremls neue Baumeister, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 11 March 2000, p. 99 in 1996, the entire Mabetex Group grossed around CHF 1.5 billion.Erklärung des Unternehmers in Moskau, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 24 March 1999, p. 2 By 2016, the revenue had increased to around CHF 1.61 billion. In total, the Mabetex Group has about 14,000 employees,Christian Dorer: Der Doppelbürger, Blick, 17 February 2018, p. 7 of which around 3,500 work in Kosovo. The company has more than 12 branch offices.Nachlassstundung von Mabetex abgelehnt, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 17 March 1999, p. 30

History

Mabetex was founded in 1991 in Lugano, Switzerland by Behgjet Pacolli, who has since been serving as the president of Mabetex Group. The company rose in size through contracting with the public sector in post-Soviet Russia throughout the 1990s. Mabetex's reputation as a "can-do" contractor solidified with the renovation of the Kremlin, which the company finished in 1996.Hugo Miller, Alex Sazonov: Kremlin gold paves way to fortune for Tito valet, 9 December 2016, retrieved 6 May 2022 Around that time, Mabetex also began constructing most of the new buildings in Astana.T. Fuster: Kosovo mit einer neuen Koalition, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 16 February 2011, No. 39, p. 3 After the Kosovo War, Mabetex initiated a foundation for redevelopment of Kosovo in July 1999. Mabetex reconstructed buildings and schools that had been destroyed in the war.Gründung einer Stiftung für Wiederaufbau in Kosovo - Mabetex-Besitzer federführend, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 26 July 1999, p. 9 In 2002, Mabetex sent first aid goods to refugees camps in Albania, and helped other institutions in Italy and Switzerland to envoy goods using Mabetex's trucks. In the early 2000s, Mabetex withdrew from the Russian market and has since been focussing mainly on the Kazakh construction market.

Main Projects

Russia In the early 1990s, the Mabetex Group began working in the Russian city of Yakutsk. From 1994 until 1998, Mabetex was commissioned to renovate the State Duma, Russian Opera House, Kremlin, and the White House in Moscow, the official home of the Russian government.Dejan Lukić: Hostage Spaces of the Contemporary Islamic World: Phantom Territoriality, Bloomsbury, London New Delhi New York Sydney 2013, , p. 115 Several floors of the building had been severely damaged in October 1993. Mabetex was asked to completely restore both the exterior and interior of the building. In total, Mabetex earnt US$492 million for the renovation work.Andrew Jack: Inside Putin's Russia: Can There Be Reform Without Democracy?, Oxford University Press, p. 82 The renovation of the Kremlin alone cost US$335 million.André Ballin: Putin baut den Kreml für eigenen Bedarf um, Der Standard, 3 May 2012, p. 5

Kazakhstan

Mabetex has been working in Kazakhstan, where it played an important role in the construction of the capital Astana. The company has, as of 2009, built almost 40% of the buildings in Nur-Sultan,Igor Jelen, Angelija Bučienė, Francesco Chiavon, Tommaso Silvestri, Katie Louise Forrest (ed.): The Geography of Central Asia, Springer, Cham 2020, , p. 265 on more than 1,000,000 m2 of land. Among them were the new Ak Orda Presidential Palace, located on the left bank of the Ishim River, the ministry of foreign affairs, the concert and theatre hall, the Opera house, a hospital,Michael Martens: Unbescheiden, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 25 February 2011, No. 47, p. 12 the Saryarka Velotreck ice-hockey stadium, and the main terminal of the Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport.Dmitry Lee: Swiss Embassy Celebrated its National Day in Astana, Switzerland Enjoys Solid Relations with Kazakhstan, The Astana Times, 27 July 2015, retrieved 6 May 2022

Switzerland Mabetex has been active in Switzerland since 1991. The group's first project was the Kazakh embassy building, located in a residential area of Geneva. The building houses several offices and conference rooms. Among other works, Mabetex has completed the Swiss Diamond Hotel, a luxury five-star hotel located in Lugano. Furthermore, Mabetex has reconstructed the five-star hotel Fluela in Davos, and the new Romantica Residence building complex in Melide-Lugano.Fabio Degli Antoni: Romantica: riparte il cantiere, RSI, 18 June 2020, retrieved 6 May 2022Historische Villa Galli im Tessin wird abgerissen, espazium, 18 June 2013, retrieved 6 May 2022

Kosovo and Albania The Mabetex Group in Kosovo was involved in the reconstruction of the Parliament building. The work carried out included the renovation of the interior and the reconstruction of the exterior with glass facades. In 2021, the group won an EUR 104 million tender for the construction of Albania's new international airport in Vlora.Klaudjo Jonuzaj: Swiss-based tie-up wins 104 mln euro tender for construction of Albania's Vlora airport, SeeNews, 8 March 2021, retrieved 5 May 2022Swiss Company Set To Construct New Airport In Vlora, Albania, Transportation Monitor Worldwide, 22 April 2022

Elsewhere

Italy In Italy, the Mabetex Group was responsible in the study and project for the refurbishment of the La Fenice theatre in Venice after it was burnt.«Nulla è impossibile», Behgjet Pacolli racconta in un libro la sua vita, Il Messaggero, 26 January 2018, retrieved 6 May 2022

Uzbekistan In Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, the group constructed the project for the City Hall.

Gallery

References

External links

Official Website