The two other bidders for the sports hall contract were Belgium's Six Constructand the UK's John Laing International. Spherical in shape, the sports hall will have a built-up area of 110,000 square metres and comprise a central basement, three upper floors and a steel roof. With a span of 250 metres and a height of 36 metres, the roof is the principal item on the project and will require 7,000 tonnes of structural steel. The facility will cater for a range of sporting activities, including football, athletics, diving, swimming, squash, gymnastics and basketball (MEED 8:5:03).

The sports hall contract is the second to have been let on the sports city project. The local Al-Huda Engineering Workswas awarded last September the QR 118.5 million ($32 million) contract to build the neighbouring sports academy. The design consultant on the sports academy and sports hall is the local Cico Consulting Architects Engineers, with France's Tallibert.

For the third package, the redevelopment of the existing stadium, bids are under evaluation from two international contractors, Cyprus-based Joannou & Paraskevaides (J&P - Overseas)and John Laing. The contract involves the refurbishment of the existing west stand to include new tiers for about 18,000 seats, corporate boxes, VIP lounges, administrative areas and athlete facilities. A new 10,000-square-metre tensile roof structure will be erected above the west stand, along with a steel lighting arch above the east stand. The consultant for package 3 is Australia's GHD.

The project manager for the Khalifa Sports City development is the local office of Kuwait-based Projacs.