The new port - to be located 5 kilometres east of the new Doha International Airport - will be connected to the mainland by an 8.5-kilometre-long trestle bridge. It will comprise a commercial port with capacity of about 1 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), as well as a naval forces component. The port's masterplan was prepared by Bechtel.

Doha is one of two major port projects under way. For the Ras Laffan port expansion, commercial bids were submitted to Qatar Petroleum (QP)on 18 September by four groups for the dredging, reclamation and breakwater package, considered one of the largest contracts of its type ever tendered.

Valued at $1,500 million-2,000 million, the tender called for the reclamation of about 42 million cubic metres (mcm) of reclamation, 18 mcm of dredging and about 18 kilometres of new breakwater.

The expansion is being undertaken to accommodate rising gas exports at the northern industrial city, the home of the country's fast-growing liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry (MEED 9:9:05).