While the market had its doubts, government officials in Qatar have always maintained that Doha’s focus is not the 2022 World Cup, instead its ambitions are more long term and it is concentrating on the Qatar National Vision 2030.

The reason why the market was not convinced and there has been little visibility when it comes to what new projects there will be in Qatar after 2022, a view that was reinforced as projects such as the Sharq Crossing were shelved.

That perception was shattered on 3 April when Qatar lifted its self-imposed moratorium on the development of its prized gas asset, the North Field.

Doha imposed a moratorium on development of its side of the 1,800 trillion cubic feet giant South Pars-North Dome gas field - the world’s largest - in 2005. Although there have been persistent rumbling about when the moratorium would be lifted, it has largely been forgotten about as Qatar concentrates on readying itself for the World Cup.

Now with the North Field opening up companies will expect a new spate of capital expenditure in Qatar, which will benefit engineering and construction firms, but also the broader economy.

These hopes are not without precedent. Between 1996 and 2011 Qatar commissioned seven LNG trains that required tens of billions of dollars of investment and helped fuel a boom in Qatar that also saw the development of ambitious new real estate projects such as the Pearl Qatar and Lusail.

A boost in confidence could not come at a better time. Sentiment among contractors and consultants in Qatar is at a low ebb. Despite work continuing on projects for the World Cup there are regular reports of sweeping retrenchments at both government and private sector organisations.

With projects such as Doha Metro now entering the latter stages, the talk in Qatar will now start to shift away from the World Cup and focus more on the North Field, and for the long term that is no bad thing.