The opening of the Hamad International airport on 30 April marked a major milestone for Doha. The much-delayed $15.5bn airport sits at the heart of Doha’s diversification strategy and, as well as providing a state-of-the-art platform for the development of Qatar’s aviation industry and national carrier Qatar Airways, it also presents a fitting symbol of Qatar’s ambitions to become a regional hub.

Key developments

Doha is focused on delivering the huge infrastructure programme that is needed to support not only the Fifa football World Cup in 2022, but also the goals of country’s National Vision 2030 economic strategy.

Developing a state-of-the-art integrated transport network is one of the foundation stones of the vision. Along with the new airport is the project to develop an integrated rail programme, which includes the construction of the Doha Metro and a national long-distance rail network

Together, these giant rail projects have dominated the outlook for Qatar’s construction and infrastructure landscape over the past two years.

Metro progress

Construction work on the metro started in mid-2013 and there have been close to $10bn-worth of contracts awarded on the Doha Metro. Once complete, the metro will have more than 90 stations and cover about 354 kilometres. The project will be built in two phases. The first, due for completion in 2019, will see about 100km of track built on the Red, Green and Gold lines, and 37 stations. Phase 2 will add 152km of track and about 55 stations by 2026.

The largest deal of all is expected to involve the metro’s systems, rolling stock and track work, which some sources say could be worth up to $10bn. Qatar Rail is currently evaluating bids for the contract, after bidders made presentations in early April. The six-year contract covers the design, integration, manufacturing, supply, delivery, testing and commissioning of the trains and other required equipment.

Contract bidding

In 2015, tendering activity is expected to shift to the long-distance rail network. In late March 2014, Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) invited companies to prequalify for construction contracts on the long-distance network, which will be part of the GCC regional railway. Once that is done, tenders for the first-phase construction contracts are likely to be released to a shortlist of prequalified contractors before the end of the year. A contract award is expected in mid-March 2015.

Extensive network

Phase one of the multibillion-dollar scheme is due to be completed in 2018. It involves building a 146km rail line from the border with Saudi Arabia to Mesaieed and the New Doha Port Project on the east coast of the peninsula, and an inland station known as Doha West International that will connect to the Doha metro network. The line will be used for both passenger and freight services. The maximum speed for passenger services will be 200 kilometres an hour (km/h) and the maximum speed for freight trains will be 120km/hr.

Phase two of the long-distance railway is expected to be completed by 2021 and involves the construction of a 171km line that will connect Doha West International station to Bahrain and Hamad International Airport. The maximum speed for passenger services on this line will be 350km/h.

The third phase, which is programmed to be completed in 2027, will involve building 80km of railway line. This will cover the dualling of the second-phase lines between Doha West International station and Bahrain together with links to Al-Khor and Ras Laffan. The passenger services will have a maximum speed of 250km/h. The freight trains will travel at a maximum speed of 120km/h.

The fourth phase is scheduled for completion in 2030. It involves building 128km of railway line, including a Doha industrial freight link, and the dualling of the first-phase line connecting to the Saudi border. The maximum speeds on these lines will be 350km/h for passenger services and 120km/h for freight. Future phases include a link across the Qatari peninsula from Doha West International station to Dukhan.

Looking ahead

The longer-term sections that will be built after 2022 are likely to be developed at the same time as further phases of the Doha Metro. The second phase, which is still in the early planning stages, will include additional lines that will connect to the first phase and broaden the reach of the network across Doha. These projects should mean rail will remain a key market for contractors in Qatar well beyond the decade ahead.

Doha is also planning to invest some $20bn on the construction of new roads and related drainage and infrastructure in the next five years.

Road links

In May, Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has awarded South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering and Construction a $910m contract to build part of the New Orbital Highway and Truck Route. The 200km-long highway connects Ras Laffan Industrial City with the Mesaieed region, with Daewoo winning the fourth zone linking the Al-Khor Link Road with Dukhan Highway, a 42-km-stretch of the road that will have five interchanges and numerous bridges.

Traffic flow

The New Orbital Expressway and Truck Route project is one of the largest schemes being delivered through Ashghal’s Expressway Programme, which will link the Mesaieed area to Al-Khor and Ras Laffan Industrial City. It is also the third-biggest road construction order secured by a South Korean construction company in a foreign country.

The project is considered to be a vital addition to the roads network of Qatar. It will form a free-flowing traffic route connecting Qatar’s northern and southern regions, without the need to travel through Doha city. This will divert traffic outside the city, particularly trucks, and will enable easier movement of heavy vehicles through the city.

Doha Bay

Ashghal’s building programme also includes the $12bn Sharq Crossing project, one of Qatar’s biggest infrastructure schemes.

The project involves construction of a 12-kilometre-long causeway across Doha Bay and involves building three bridges, with spans ranging from 600m to 1,310m, interconnected by subsea tunnels across the bay, which, when completed, will link Doha’s new Hamad International airport with the city’s cultural district of Katara and the central business area of West Bay. Work on the project is expected to be completed before the Fifa World Cup in 2022.

Stadium contracts

Activity is accelerating for the tournament and Qatar is now pushing ahead with its World Cup stadium projects, although details of upcoming projects are still unclear.

In April, a joint venture of BelgiumQatar ’s Six Constructand the local Midmac Contracting Company won the estimated $300m deal to upgrade the existing Khalifa stadium, increasing its seating capacity to 60,000, from the current 45,000. In early May, the local HBK Contracting Company won the enabling works contract for Al-Wakrah stadium.

Although the stadiums will have to be built before the tournament starts in 2022, so far the timing and magnitude of the work that will be tendered remains unclear. For the flagship Lusail stadium, the original design competition was scrapped and replaced with a new contest, and the project management deal, which was about to be signed with a UK consultant earlier this year, is about to be retendered.

Realistic goals

Further tempering contractors’ expectations is the statement from the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy saying it is considering reducing the proposed stadiums to a number that better reflects the “size of the country”.

Better-managed expectations are not a bad thing. The euphoria that has surrounded Qatar’s projects market since it was picked to host the World Cup has been overplayed and many companies are now realising the country is not an easy market to operate in.

Water requirements

Away from transport and the World Cup, Doha is giving a priority to the country’s long-term water security. Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) is developing five major reservoirs as part of its $3bn Water Security Mega Reservoirs project.

Each reservoir site will contain up to 10 reservoir modules, which could be the largest of their type in the world. The reservoirs and pipeline network, with associated pumping stations, are planned to store up to 15 million cubic metres of potable water.

The scheme will connect the desalination plants at Ras Laffan and Ras Abu Fontas, which will skirt the west side of Doha. The pipeline will also connect to five reservoirs on the outskirts of the capital, which will be linked by about 200km of large-diameter pipeline.