Gulf Construction Online - Summits focus on $137bn sector

Roads and Bridges

Summits focus on $137bn sector

A summit in Qatar followed by another in Saudi Arabia will focus on the billions of dollars that the Gulf countries are investing into building and enhancing their roads and bridges.

01 February 2012

TWO key events next month will put the spotlight firmly on the roads and bridges sector in the GCC, where an estimated $137 billion worth of road and railway projects are under way or in the planning stages.

The events will be held in two of the GCC countries that offer ample opportunities for growth in the sector. The second Annual Road Planning, Design and Construction Middle East will be held at the Oryx Rotana in Doha, Qatar, from March 11 to 14 and will be followed by the second Annual Bridges Saudi Arabia summit, which will take place from March 18 to 21, at The Four Seasons, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Both events are being organised by the International Quality and Productivity Centre, which has its Middle East office in Dubai, UAE.

According to the Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz), the GCC countries are on track to spend $137.4 billion between 2011 and 2020 on new road and railway projects. Railway projects, including rail, metro, tram, and stations are valued at $79 billion, including the $30 billion GCC rail network. The planned GCC rail network will begin from Kuwait and will pass through Saudi Arabia’s eastern city of Dammam, where it will connect to Bahrain through a bridge that runs parallel to the King Fahd Causeway before reaching Qatar via Salwa. Qatar and Bahrain will be connected by a bridge.

Markaz reports in its latest installment of the GCC infrastructure series that the total value of ongoing projects in the roads sector is almost $18 billion, while by 2015 the GCC states will invest $58.4 billion on the road infrastructure. The report also says the GCC has historically focused on its transportation investments in building roadways, thus ensuring high quality roads across most of the region. Almost 100 per cent of the roads in the GCC are paved; compared to the average in other emerging countries, which is below 75 per cent. The aggregate length of roads available in the GCC is 291,313 km, of this, 75 per cent is in Saudi Arabia.

Qatar is reported to account for 22 per cent share of the total value of ongoing projects or $3.9 billion and for the coming five-year period, is expected to overtake the UAE in terms of planned investments, which currently has $7.4 billion or 42 per cent of the total value of ongoing projects in the region. Qatar, which has 7,790 km of road and a traffic density of 78 motor vehicles per kilometre of road, will be investing approximately $12.4 billion on improving and creating road networks.

According to a report published by Qatar’s Urban Planning Council under the Public Works Authority (PWA), $19.2 billion will be spent over the next eight years to create a flawless road system, drainage and other required facilities to push the economic growth of Qatar.

Over half of this budget – approximately $12.3 billion – has been allocated to improving and creating roads. According to Qatar’s Transport Master Plan, among the most significant road schemes is Project No 17 in Al Wakrah and Wukair, which will link Al Wakrah with Doha through a 24-km metallic road with an estimated budget of $275 million. Other prominent road projects include the Doha Expressway, located in the south of Doha, which links southern and western parts of Doha plus New Doha International Airport, Al Wakra and Mesaieed.

At the second Annual Road Planning, Design and Construction Middle East summit, Yassin Ibrahim Askar, manager of the Expressway Department at Qatar Public Works Authority (Ashghal) will discuss designing and planning safer road networks to accommodate future population growth. In addition, Ademola Illori, road safety expert from Qatar Traffic Department, will be present to explore efficient methods to improve road safety practices.

Senior representatives from key transport and road authorities and organisations throughout the Middle East including the Ministry of Works in Bahrain, Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Jordan, Ministry of Public Works, the UAE, Department of Transport, Abu Dhabi, Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai, Mowasalat, QU Wireless Innovations Center (QUWIC), Qatar Society of Engineers, International Road Federation, International Road Transport Union, United Nations PPP-Readiness Task Force and Texas A&M University at Qatar will discuss about delivering world-class road infrastructure.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Transport (MOT), which is driving the investment in road and bridge projects in the country, has allocated $2.87 billion for road projects this year (see separate article). The MOT will be joining the second Annual Bridges Saudi Arabia summit, where its bridges expert Ebrahim Al Babtain will be discussing its procedures, guidelines and processes for the design, construction and management of bridge structures to provide clarity on future bridge tender opportunities in the kingdom.

Other delegates at the summit include senior representatives from the Jeddah Municipality, Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu, Saudi Aramco, Institute of Civil Engineering Structures Panel, Concrete Society, The Chartered Institute of Building, American Concrete Institute – Saudi Arabian Chapter and Saudi Council of Engineers.