Indian contractor Navayuga Engineering Company has been awarded a piling works contract for a residential tower in Qatar.

Qatar’s United Development Company (UDC), which is developing the $150m Al-Mutahida Towers project in Viva Bahriya at The Pearl Qatar, has appointed the Indian firm to execute the excavation and backfilling works in preparation for the next construction phase, said a company statement.

The piling work is expected to be completed by early 2017.

The Al-Mutahida Towers is set to comprise 450 residential units and expected to be delivered by the final quarter of 2019.

Abu Dhabi-based Engineering Consultants Group is the lead consultant on the project.

Local media also reported earlier this month that UDC is set to conduct an engineering study for a new connection road linking The Pearl island with the rest of Doha, which will be developed in coordination with the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

UDC is the masterdeveloper of The Pearl-Qatar, which is an artificial island spanning nearly four million square metres. It is the first land in Qatar to be available for freehold foreign ownership.