QATAR has announced one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects, comprising three bridges interconnected by subsea tunnels, to be completed before the soccer World Cup finals in 2022.

The Sharq Crossing project will include three bridges spanning between 600 m and 1,310 m, which will link Doha’s new Hamad International Airport with the city’s cultural district of Katara and the central business area of West Bay.

“Construction of the project will start in 2015 and completion will be by 2021,” Nasser Ali Al Mawlawi, the president of Qatar’s Public Works Authority, Ashghal, said.

The bridges on the Sharq project have been designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and are inspired by the image of flying fish, Ashghal said, adding that one of the bridges will have a two-deck structure incorporating a recreational park accessible via an elevated walkway and a funicular railway.

No value was given for the project, which will be funded by the government of Qatar.

The country plans to spend as much as $140 billion on infrastructure projects, including a new airport, stadiums, roads and railways, as it prepares to host the World Cup tournament.

It awarded contracts worth $8.2 billion in June to international and local contractors for the construction of Phase One of the Doha Metro project.

Al Mawlawi said that Ashghal plans to spend more than QR100 billion ($27.46 billion) on its projects over the next five to seven years.

Qatar has been building on its foreign worker numbers, now at 1.8 million, to meet the infrastructure challenges ahead of the World Cup.