Local Qatari banks are set to increase their appetite for long-term lending for infrastructure projects, says Yusuf Saeed, acting general manager, global structured finance at Qatar National Bank (QNB).

Speaking at the MEED’s project and infrastructure conference in Bahrain, Saeed said: “Local banks now have appetite for long-dated deals. If you look at the Ras Abu Fontas A2 project, it was fully financed by local banks.”

The Ras Abu Fontas project involves the construction of a seawater desalination independent water and power plant (IWPP). It is set to be operational by June 2015.

The $500m project reached financial close in early December 2013 with the debt financing provided via a $180m conventional facility provided by QNB Group and a $270m Islamic loan facility provided by local banks Barwa Bank, Masraf Al-Rayan and Qatar Islamic Bank.

The facility marks a turning point for the type of deals the liquid local banking market is looking to support. The country’s banks are now eyeing opportunities to finance Qatar’s next IWPP known as facility D, which is due to be launched to market soon.