Qatar’s New Doha International Airport Steering Committee has invited consultants to bid for the programme management of future expansion works at Hamad International airport.

The role is likely to attract the interest of major international firms with prospective bidders expected to include:

• Aecom (US)
• CH2M Hill(US)
• EC Harris(UK)
• Faithful + Gould (UK)
• Hill International (US)
• KBR(US)
• KEO International Consultants (local office)
• Louis Berger (US)
• Mace Group (UK)

US-based Bechtel and Parsons International, also US-based, provide programme and project management services on earlier phases of the airport development.

Doha is expected to tender a major construction contract on the airport this year. The work involves the development of concourses D and E at the airport, which opened to traffic last year. The new facilities are expected to include more gates, as well as additional retail and business facilities, and a hotel.

The architect that designed the expansion is UK-based Foster + Partners.

The expansion will add to the North Node package, which was built by a joint venture of the local Midmac Contracting and Belgium’s Six Construct.

The contracting team was awarded the QR2.7bn ($740m) deal in 2010 to build the six-level North Node extension, which is linked to the main new passenger terminal at the airport. The main passenger terminal, comprising concourses A, B and C, was built by the Sky Oryx consortium, which is made up of Japan’s Taisei Corporation and Turkey’s TAV.

The $17.5bn Hamad International airport opened in late April 2014. The project met with significant delays, after initially aiming for a 2008 launch. The new airport has the capacity to handle 30 million passengers a year, a 30.4 per cent increase on Doha International’s capacity of 23 million.