Gulf Construction Online

Qatar Review

Artist’s impression of the Pearl of the Gulf project.

Revving up

Prospects look brighter than they have ever been before for Qatar's contracting sector as projects move from concept to construction.

01 March 2004

Qatar can be ranked next after Dubai in the number of mega projects – many of them $1 billion-plus – which are set on the drawing boards or just getting off the ground.

While it cannot compete with the pace at which the UAE emirate is launching projects, it certainly appears to have set the cogs of the industry abuzz with activity. Demand for cement is sky-rocketing, building material prices are on the rise and international companies appear to be making a beeline to grab a piece of the action in Qatar.
In the industrial sector, Qatar is expected to average contract awards worth a total of $10 billion-plus per year in gas projects – including expansion of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and new gas-to-liquids (GTL) projects.
Qatar sits atop the world’s third largest reserves of gas – the North Field has 25.5 trillion cu m of proven reserves – and aims for global leadership in the LNG sector.
The country is pressing ahead with its $1 billion plans to enhance its sports infrastructure in time for the Asian Games which Doha is set to host in December 2006. Plans include setting up of an Athletes Village, which will transform into the Hamad Medical City once the games are over (see page 40). A number of hotels, resorts and commercial complexes are also being built to house the anticipated surge in tourists.
In tandem with these plans, Qatar Broadcasting Services expects to complete its state-of-the-art headquarters complex in time for the Games when the cream of the sports media will descend to cover the events (see page 51). Other major building projects on the cards is the $150 million Museum of Islamic Arts and the $125 million Qatar National Library while work is ongoing on the massive $300 million Education City.
Construction work is expected to move ahead on the much-awaited New Doha International Airport, which is expected to cost $2.5 billion for the first phase alone. The engineering, project and construction management (EPCM) contract for the project was awarded early this year to US giant engineering and project management company Bechtel. While the original plans targeted completion in time for the Games, the government has instead opted to upgrade the existing facility to meet the influx of passengers (see page 45).
To speed up work on these various developments, a number of committees have been set up including the New Doha International Airport Committee and Khalifa Sports City Development Committee.
In addition, the state-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP) is reported to be setting up a joint venture engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company with an international partner to undertake projects worth up to $30 billion in the domestic market over the next seven years. QP has been managing the first phase of the Education City project, the Museum of Islamic Arts and the Qatar National Library.
Early this year at a conference entitled Major Project Opportunities in Qatar, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture Ali bin Said Saad Al Kuwari said that about $4.9 billion is to be spent over the coming six years on major projects in the roads, buildings, sewerage, education and health sectors.
The largest allocation, $2.27 billion, will go on roads, while a further $1.39 billion will be spent on buildings. The main road projects cover upgrading of the highway linking Salwa and Doha, the Dukhan highway and the North Road.

Oil & gas
Qatar expects an investment of $60 billion in its North Field development projects and gas-based industries up to 2010. As the state continues to pursue its ambitions of being a world leader in the LNG and GTL sectors, major developments in the gas sector are set to unfold shortly.
Qatar Liquefied Gas Company (Qatargas) is poised to launch a $12 billion project to expand its LNG plant to produce 15 million tonnes per year (tpy) by 2008. Two new trains are planned for which engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bids are expected to be announced this year.
Qatargas in joint venture with the US’ ConocoPhillips also intends to develop a separate 7.5 million-tpy train to supply the US market. The plant is estimated to cost $2.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company (RasGas) will inaugurate its third 4.7 million-tpy gas train this month. Work is also in progress on train 4. A further $12 billion expansion project involving the construction of two additional trains each with 7.8 million tpy is envisaged at the plant.
Qatar’s first GTL plant is due to come on stream next year when Oryx GTL becomes operational towards the end of the year. The $900 million QP/Sasol venture taking shape in Ras Laffan will produce 34,000 barrels per day (bpd) of fuel, liquefied petroleum gas and naphtha.
Two other GTL projects planned include a $5 billion scheme by the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and a ConocoPhillips venture. Shell has just awarded JGC of Japan the front-end engineering design for the onshore plant that will produce 140,000 bpd of GTL products. The project will be developed in two phases with the first phase operational in 2009. The ConocoPhillips venture will have a production capacity in the range of 100,000 to 150,000 bpd.
In tandem with these projects, an estimated $400 million condensate refinery is to be built at Ras Laffan.
Qatar Petroleum intends to build a 120 km pipeline to carry gas from Ras Laffan to Mesaieed. Prequalified firms have already submitted EPC bids for the project.
QP is also building a linear alkyl benzene plant at Mesaieed. The company awarded a $240 million contract in January to South Korea’s LG Engineering and Construction to build the plant, which will have a capacity to produce 100,000 tpy of the product, which is used to make household detergents. The plant is expected to go on stream in early 2006.
Early this year, the UAE’s Dolphin Energy awarded three major construction contracts for the Qatar-UAE Dolphin natural gas project, including a $1.6 billion contract to JGC Corporation for the construction of a gas treatment and processing plant at Ras Laffan Industrial City.
Dolphin Energy also awarded J Ray McDermott, a unit of McDermott International (MDR), a contract to build offshore platforms in Qatar’s huge offshore North Field.
The third contract, awarded to Rolls-Royce Group’s energy unit, is for the supply and installation of compression trains driven by gas turbines at the Ras Laffan plant.
The $3.5 billion Dolphin project, which aims to bring the oil-rich Gulf region’s first crossborder pipeline on stream in 2006, will use Qatar’s huge gas reserves to fuel the UAE’s growing demand for power. The project is expected to export 2 billion cu ft a day of natural gas to the UAE. The gas will be processed at Ras Laffan, also producing for export over 95,000 barrels a day of condensate, 3,000 tonnes a day of liquefied petroleum gas and 3,700 tonnes a day of ethane for use in Qatar’s petrochemicals industry.
Dolphin Energy’s first supplies of natural gas from Oman were received in January by pipeline at a control station in the UAE, following the inauguration of Dolphin’s natural gas pipeline from Al Ain to Fujairah. Dolphin’s supplies from Oman to Union Water and Electricity Company’s (UWECs) will subsequently be replaced by Dolphin gas from Qatar.

Commercial complexes
Plans have been announced for a $192 million multi-purpose complex to be named Al Lakhma (sting-ray fish) in Doha that will include shopping malls, conference halls, theatres and other public buildings. To be financed by Doha Municipality and Qatar Islamic Bank among others, the project is being targeted for completion in time for the Asian Games.
The project comes within the framework of an ambitious plan announced by the Qatari Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture at the beginning of this year for the construction of infrastructure, various buildings and facilities in preparation for the Asian Games.
Among the largest private sector ventures is a project being launched by United Development Company. Work is set to begin next month on its $2 billion Pearl of the Gulf island project in West Bay. The project is due for completion in 2006 (see page 49).
There are several hotel projects currently under construction, including the Four Seasons, which is due for completion this year (see page 55), the Hilton, the West Bay Resort and Hotel and others. Design work is due to begin soon on a new Shangri-La hotel in central Doha.
Marriott International expects to open three new properties in Qatar, on adjacent sites, under a management agreement with Al Rayan Tourism Investment Company. All are scheduled for completion in 2007.
These include the 250-room Renaissance to be located adjacent to the huge City Center-Doha shopping mall and entertainment complex, the 200-room Courtyard by Marriott and the 120-unit Marriott Executive Apartments.
Meanwhile, plans for the expansion of the City Centre Doha shopping mall are now set to go ahead. The estimated $150 million project involves the construction of four 30-storey hotel towers and a four-storey podium. The City Centre Doha, the largest shopping mall in Qatar, was completed in early 2001.
Among the new high-rises are planned for the West Bay area is the State Audit Bureau (SAB) head office. The 140-m-high SAB building will have a total built-up area of 66,000 sq m and comprise 32 storeys. The local Al-Attiyah Group for Trading is developing the project, while the project consultant is the UK’s WS Atkins. The Commercial Bank of Qatar is also planning to built its headquarters in the area.
Halcrow, a British multidisciplinary consultant, is working on the masterplan for the $187 million headquarters for Qatar Petroleum in Doha. The project will include a 50,000 sq m main office, training facilities, a mosque, a medical centre, a fire station, recreation buildings and a sports stadium.
Halcrow is also designing parts of the Education City project including a headquarters building for the Qatar Foundation; an engineering college; a business and IT college; a 1,500-seat auditorium and 2,000-seat conference centre; a library and student centre.

Cultural centres
France’s Thinet International has won a contract worth QR257 million ($70.6 million) for the main package on the Cultural Village project. The 15-month contract calls for the construction of about 46 one- and two-storey buildings ranging from cafes and restaurants to a multi-purpose hall, a cinema and an amphitheatre. The total built-up area will be about 78,000 sq m.
Construction has already begun for the spectacular Museum of Islamic Arts, which is due to open by early 2008. The museum will be built on a small man-made island in Doha Bay, linked to the waterfront Corniche road by a short causeway which is now under construction. The striking five-storey structure has been designed by IM Pei Architects of the US; the construction manager is the US’ Turner International.
Bids have been invited for the third package on the project involving foundations, structures and finishings and mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works.
Qatar is also to have a major international photographic museum, tracing the history of imaging from the first photographic plates to the digital era. The museum is being built on the Corniche, close to Al Bidda Park.
The main packages are expected to be let this year on the Qatar National Library. To be built on pillars, the new library will resemble a modernistic pyramid suspended in space.
The building is expected to be the tallest along the corniche, being 120 m high, 400 m long and 300 m wide. It includes the main library, which is elevated high above the ground and aligns on a north-south axis resembling spread-tapered wings. The structure stand an a podium which will house the Museum of Natural History, Science Museum and Art Galleries.

Roads & bridges
A Bahraini-Qatari joint commission held talks last month on plans to build a bridge linking the two states, at an estimated cost of up to $2 billion. A feasibility study has been completed and conceptual designs have been drawn up for the proposed causeway.
The causeway could take from three-and-a-half to five years to be completed. If given the go-ahead, the 40-km causeway would be the longest in the world.
Among the major road projects in Qatar are the $802 million Doha expressway, $321 million Dukhan highway and the $348 million North road project.
The Dukhan highway extends across 78 km. The first phase of the project covering a distance of 14 km from Doha to Wajbah is to be tendered this year with two other phases to be tendered in 2006.
Last July, United Engineers Malaysia won the $238.58 million Salwa Road Phase 1 project to upgrade 81 km of the highway connecting Doha with Salwa.
The contract, which forms part of the Qatar Primary Routes, entails upgrading the existing roads to dual four-lane carriageway inclusive of 12 interchanges and underpasses. The project is due for completion in April 2006.
Galfar Al Misnad, the local subsidiary of Oman’s Galfar Engineering and Contracting, has won the $57 million engineering procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) contract on the Salwa-Umm Bab dual-carriageway project. The contract entails the construction of about 35 km of dual-carriageway, bridges, underpasses and street lighting. The client is QP.
Cypriot firm J&P has completed work on two flyovers that have eased traffic on the D-Ring and Salwa roads. Both roads represent major routes around or out of town and their upgrade is part of the major infrastructural development ongoing in Doha. The two flyovers are part of the Immigration and Salwai interchange projects worth a total of $100 million.
First to open on the new D-Ring superhighway running from the North Road to Doha International Airport, was the flyover carrying traffic across what was formerly known as ‘Immigration Roundabout’. A new underpass that will carry the Khalifa Town Road/Al Laqta Street beneath the same junction will soon be commissioned.
The other project, the Al Asiery flyover, carrying traffic in and out of town on the Salwa Road has just opened. The arterial road leads to the Doha light industrial area, the Customs Post and then on to Qatar’s land border post. Work has already started to upgrade the whole road to a six-lane highway, right out to the border. The project is part of the $44.2 million Salwa Interchange project.
While Al Asiery flyover has improved flow on the Salwa Road as it crosses the D-Ring at the former ‘Midmac roundabout’, the underpass at the same junction has not yet been completed, leaving the central section of the all-important D-Ring closed. Announcements are awaited on the next stage of work.

Power & water
At the end of last year, Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) awarded contracts to several Arab and foreign companies to expand and upgrade Qatar’s electricity grid.
Kahramaa awarded a $49.7 million contract to Spanish construction company Isolux Wat for the construction of power plants and the supply of electricity cables by January 2005. A $39.7 million contract was also awarded to Saudi Arabia’s National Contracting Company (NCC) to implement two electricity projects by August this year.

Other projects
• The local Qatar Real Estate Investment Company (QREIC) is currently gearing-up to build a housing development dubbed the Mesaieed Housing Project. The project involves construction of 1,050 housing units in the city of Mesaieed. The complex will also include green areas, playgrounds for children, mosques and recreation and business centres and is expected to cost $82 million. Design work is nearing completion and construction is scheduled to commence in June.
• More than $110 million has been invested so far in setting up of a new industrial zone for small and medium scale industries in Qatar. The first phase of the project, covering an area of six million sq m out of the total 11 million sq m to be developed, has been completed recently.
• Qatar National Cement Company intends to expand production at a cost of $125 million to more than double its current capacity of one million tonnes per year.
• United Engineers (Malaysia) is scheduled to complete work on the $91.28 million College of Technology project (package 2) in September 2004. The project located in the southwest of Qatar University involves the construction of a number of mainly two-storeyed buildings covering an area of approximately 68,000-sq m.