DUBAI: A joint venture between South Africa's Murray & Roberts and Bahrain's Nass Corporation has lost a $545 million building deal, it emerged yesterday.

This is the latest sign the Gulf is struggling to cope with the economic downturn.

In a regulatory filing yesterday, Nass said Sama Dubai had terminated the contract covering the Salam resort, a luxury beach-front project close to the Bahrain Formula One track.

The global financial crisis has put the brakes on an economic boom in the Gulf, especially in Dubai, where a building boom is unravelling, property firms are laying off staff and banks are facing tight liquidity conditions.

When the project was announced in 2005, Sama Dubai put the project costs at Two billion UAE dirhams ($544.5m).

The Dubai firm did not give a reason for the termination in a letter to the joint venture published on the bourse website.

It is the latest in a string of projects to be cancelled or delayed in the Gulf region and the second Murray & Roberts has lost in as many months.

Last month, its key Trump Towers Dubai building project was scrapped.

Bahrain until now has not been as badly hit, but the kingdom is beginning to feel the effects of the crisis as projects financed by banks and developers from the rest of the region are being delayed.

Sama Dubai said in November it was considering job cuts and reviewing its project pipeline.