Qatar Projects: World Cup and National Vision drive ambitious projects market

As the small peninsula state of Qatar gears up to host the football World Cup in 2022, ambitious construction and infrastructure projects will cause its non-hydrocarbons economy to accelerate over the coming decade.

Doha’s twin focus of staging the world’s largest sporting event and implementing its National Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the country away from a reliance on hydrocarbons towards a knowledge-based economy, offers opportunities across all sectors.

The World Cup will drive spending on sports and transport infrastructure and also property development as Qatar scrambles to ready itself for an influx of visitors. The execution of the National Vision 2030 involves investment in education, research, cultural projects and technology start-up companies. As such, Qatar’s ambitions are the most broad-based of the GCC countries.

Although all regional governments are trying to move away from a dependence on oil and gas revenues, they are succeeding at different rates. Winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup has imposed a non-negotiable 10-year time frame on Qatar. The infrastructure it will put in place over the next decade will leave it in a good position to achieve its national development plan.

Qatar is open to international businesses. The government is keen to promote opportunities for local firms, but realises that outside expertise is essential to achieving its many goals.

This supplement aims to provide an insight into the main government clients that will dominate the Qatar projects market in the coming years, outlining their background, structure and ambitions.

We hope you find it a useful guide to one of the most promising projects markets in the world today.