The Lusail development is one of the biggest real estate schemes in the Middle East. Located 22 kilometres north of Doha, it covers a total area of 35,000 square km and is planned to house up to 200,000 people. The development is a key part of Qatar’s Fifa 2022 World Cup plans and will accommodate the 80,000-seat Lusail Iconic stadium.

Lusail City was unveiled during the Gulf’s real estate boom in 2004 and its first infrastructure contract was awarded in 2006. State-backed Qatari Diar set up Lusail Real Estate Development Company (LREDC) as a subsidiary to develop the project in 2008. In 2010, LREDC formed a joint venture with German contractor Hochtief to provide planning and construction services.

Progress stalled in late 2008 due to the collapse of the region’s real estate market amid the global economic crisis. The project was revived after Qatar won the right to host the 2022 football World Cup in December 2010.

Lusail City is scheduled for completion in 2020 and will feature residential clusters, commercial districts, shopping and leisure facilities, 22 hotels and two golf courses. The masterplan divides the waterfront development into 19 integrated and mixed-use districts. The Lusail development will also include Qatar’s Energy City, the country’s oil and gas administrative hub, with more than 80 energy sector offices.

The majority of the Lusail scheme is to be developed by private organisations, with LREDC providing the infrastructure.

In the last quarter of 2012, LREDC awarded an estimated $460m contract for internal infrastructure on the scheme. The two-year contract involves building two sections of connecting road, south-to-north and east-to-west, for a total length of 5.2km, with six lanes.

Construction of the Lusail marina is already complete and work on some of the real estate components is now under way. In March, the Lusail municipality approved the designs for the estimated QR1bn ($274.6m) marina mall project.

The 2 million square-metre marina will contain residences, offices and hotels with a waterfront boardwalk, and will house about 80,000 people. It will contain 102 towers, which will range in height from 15-40 storeys.

The Fox Hills district will cover a total area of 1.6 million sq m and will house up to 39,000 people in buildings that will range in height from four to seven storeys. The district will also contain a media city, a 200-bed general hospital, 36 schools and 35 mosques.