Local developer Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company is preparing to tender the 400-metre-plus tower it is planning to build at the Doha Convention Centre & Tower development.

Qatari Diar is expected to issue the tender documents in the middle of the year, according to sources close to the project.

The developer originally tendered the project in 2008, but the tender was cancelled and the project put on hold in early 2009 due to restrictions on new developments close to the New Doha International Airport (NDIA).

Restrictions were put on the height of developments close to the flight path of the new airport and will not be lifted until the new airport opens. The opening of the airport has been delayed by two years and the project is now expected to be completed in early 2012 (MEED 26:11:08).

The development is planned to have a total built-up area of 180,000 square metres, with the tower housing a hotel, apartments and shops.

At least three groups were prequalified in 2008 to tender for the project. The prequalifiers included Australia’s Multiplex, South Korea’s Samsung Corporation and Japan’s Taisei Corporation.

The future of another tall tower project planned for Doha is now uncertain. The 510m-high Qatar National Bank headquarters project has stalled, according to sources in Doha.

MEED reported in May 2010 that QNB had shortlisted two Australian companies, Multiplex and Grocon, to build the 101-floor tower. The client had originally planned to award the contract in early 2010.

The building was planned to have a total built-up area of 235,000 sq m. The tower was scheduled to contain five basement levels, 88,000 sq m of parking, 9,000 sq m for the entrance and banking halls, and 138,000 sq m of office space (MEED 22:5:10).