Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has awarded the local Bin Omran Trading & Contracting Company a QR545m ($150m) contract to build a road network around the Barwa City development in Doha.

The local contractor was awarded the contract to build the peripheral roads for the residential development in early February.

The project will involve constructing 22 kilometres of dual internal roads around the 2.7 million square metre Barwa City scheme. The work will take 18 months to complete.

The project is part of Qatar’s plans to invest $20bn on new roads and related drainage and infrastructure over the next five years. In 2011, the Gulf state plans to tender 13 major road projects totalling 344km in length.

 Ashghal recently invited contractors to submit bids by 23 May for the first package on the estimated $700m Lusail Expressway project.

The road will run from the Arch roundabout to the area surrounding the Ritz Carlton hotel in Doha. About seven companies have been prequalified for the tender, according to sources in Doha.

The first package will be 5.8km in length and will have about 16 lanes, some of which will be two or three levels. The expressway will also include three major interchanges, slip roads, underpasses and bicycle lanes. Construction work will take 36 months to complete.

The second package, which has not yet been tendered, will run beside the Lusail mixed-use development and then on to the Pearl real-estate development. The expressway will be about 12km long when completed (MEED 4:3:11).