Qatar needs to act quickly to coordinate the mass of new projects associated with its Fifa 2022 World Cup Finals plan to prevent delays, duplication and inflation, chairman of the Qatar Society of Engineers, Ahmad Jassim al-Jolo, said in Doha on 7 December.

“There needs to be some overall programme management with all the disciplines in it that coordinates all the government organisations involved,” he said. “There are so many things that need to be taken into consideration: The social impact, the economic impact and the environmental impact. There needs to be a project manager assigned for each task within the World Cup project programme to help decisions to be taken fast. The programme also has to be logical and implementable so that projects do not overlap.”

Al-Jolo said rising construction prices and general inflation could be an issue due to the scale of investment expected in World Cup projects and the associated infrastructure. Project spending in Qatar is forecast to hit $100bn in the next five years.

“We have to watch out for inflation and keep our eyes open for material price rises and general consumer inflation,” Al-Jolo said. “And we don’t want to wait until problems emerge and then start reacting. We need to have a plan for controlling inflation because there will be some.”

Al-Jolo said enormous international interested is expected in Qatar projects as a result of Fifa’s decision to award Qatar the mandate to host finals, the first to be held in the Middle East. “Things will start to move by the middle of next year, but we need to start with initial planning now. It’s a challenge, but a nice one,” he added.

The Qatar Society of Engineers represents and accredits all engineering disciplines in Qatar. It was founded in 2007 and now has 200 members.