Up to 10 international contractors have been invited to prequalify. The client, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, is planning to proceed with the project on a fast-track basis, with construction due to start in early 2004. The 30-month construction contract calls for about 220,000 square metres of gross area to be built. The project manager on the expansion is Canada's Cansult.

The City Centre Doha is the largest shopping mall in Qatar and one of the biggest in the Gulf. Plans to expand the centre, taking in the four new towers, have been around since the late 1990s, when construction began on the shopping centre.