It's "on your marks, get set, go" for Qatar's construction sector, which is poised to race ahead to complete a string of infrastructure projects in time for the Asian Games the country is set to host in 2006 (December 1-15).

The construction sector in Qatar is extremely busy. All the major local contractors have their order books full and international contractors are now showing unprecedented interest in a market which abounds with opportunities, both in the civil and industrial construction segments.

Sports facilities are the watchword in the country and with it the associated infrastructure, ranging from new road networks to the hundreds of hotel rooms and accommodation facilities for sports enthusiasts and some 10,000 athletes who will descend upon Qatar. A brand new international airport is also to be built in time for the international sporting event.

Besides this, the country has embarked on other major projects such as the Education City, the proposed Islamic art museum, to be built at a cost of about $160 million and the $115 million Qatar National library, to be built on the corniche.

Higher oil prices and the additional revenue from liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports have considerably boosted the country's coffers, enabling it to proceed, albeit cautiously, with much-needed infrastructural developments.

Despite the threats of the looming US-led war against Iraq, an industry source sums up the momentum in the construction sector in Qatar: "There will be no let up in activity until 2006."

Early this year, Qatar unveiled plans to launch public sector projects in a phased manner with a total expenditure outlay of a staggering QR12.5 billion ($3.42 billion).

The projects - hospitals, schools, public service centres, roads, drainage and water supply networks as well as beautification schemes - are to be completed over the next five years across the state. Sixty per cent of the allocated funds are to be spent on roads, bridges, tunnels, sewerage systems and expansion projects. The remaining is earmarked for hospitals, schools and other facilities.

Among the most ambitious projects is a health city to be named the Hamad Medical City which will have a children's hospital, nursing school, dialysis units and several hospitals. The estimated $450 million project is also set for completion in 2006. A cardiology hospital in Doha and a 200-bed hospital at Wakra are other medical facilities slated for completion by 2006.

Plans also include building some 50 schools across the country and a new zoo at a cost of $125 million, which is expected to be completed by December 2005.

The private sector is also contributing to the boom with a number of villas, apartment blocks and malls.

Qatar is aiming to construct some 7,000 hotel rooms with an overall investment of $800 million by decade's end to supplement its existing 3,000 rooms. Among the hotels being built are the Four Seasons, the Hilton and the Holiday Inn.

Using demand for cement as a barometer of the level of construction activity in Qatar, the state consumed about one million tonnes of cement in 2001, while demand could touch two million tonnes this year, according to an analyst.

In addition, Qatar Petroleum's (QP) decision to spend $15 billion in the energy sector in the next five years is also likely to further fuel the demand for cement.

Sports facilities

Construction firms have been given a shot in the arm by the country's selection to host the 2006 Asian Games. As part of the preparations, which are estimated to cost some $1.8 billion, existing facilities are being upgraded and new facilities, including stadiums and an Olympic Village, are being planned.

A dedicated expo entitled Qatar Sports International exhibition (QSi) was held last December to highlight business opportunities for investors in the international sports equipment and infrastructure sector. During the event, a number of contracts related to three major facilities at Rayyan, Al Ittihad and Al Saad sport complexes were awarded.

An initial list of 22 construction projects, costing a total of $455 million, was announced at QSi. This list includes the building of a new Doha Sports Complex worth $233 million.

The following projects are being planned:
* Complete renovation and expansion of the Khalifa stadium complex into a state-of-the-art sports city at a cost of $100 million.;
* A new Olympic athletes village to accommodate 10,000 athletes;
* Public transport projects and accommodation for an estimated 20,000 participants, officials and visitors;
* Upgrading all nine existing stadiums including the Al Ittihad and Rayyan clubs;
* A new 36-lane bowling alley complex, new shooting range, horse-racing track and stables;
* Renovation of the tennis stadium; and
* Numerous requirements for sports facilities infrastructure such as electronic scoreboards, seating, sports equipment, flooring and lighting.

Australian consultant GHD - which was instrumental in organising the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games - has been named project management contractor for the Games by the Qatar National Olympic Committee (QNOC) and the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee (DAGOC), which is in charge of the works programme.

A team comprising the local Cico Consulting Architects Engineers and France's Tallibert is consultant for the sports academy and sports hall elements.

The US' Hill International has been appointed project manager for the Hamad medical complex/athletes village project. Estimated to cost $356 million, the project calls for the construction of three hospital buildings offering a total of 550 beds, a residential complex for nurses and related works. The facilities will be ready by December 2006, in time for the Doha Asian Games.

Design work for the athletes complex will be ready by June and the first construction package, covering site preparations and related works, is expected to be tendered later this year. The consultant is Fedcon of Thailand.

A consultant is expected to be appointed shortly for the estimated $1 billion new Doha International Airport. A new steering committee has been set up to oversee the project and has been handed its own budget to implement it.

The project, to be sited over an area of around 10,000 sq m to the east of the existing airport on Ras Abu Aboud Road, is scheduled to be completed in time for the Asian Games in 2006.

Four prequalified international consultants submitted bids to act as design and project management consultants for the project. The consultant's scope of work will involve the preparation of a masterplan, which is expected to be completed within four months.

The new airport, which will be one of the most modern in the world, will have a capacity to handle 12 million passengers a year and 500,000 tonnes per year of cargo. Some 24 contact gates will be provided with no shared boarding bridges. It will also include maintenance hangars and support facilities and will house the Amiri flight. The site requires major preparation works, including excavation, filling and reclamation from offshore.

During the first phase, a 4,850 m-long runway is planned to be built. During the second phase, a similar runway will be put in place.

In the meantime, a $40 million refurbishment programme has been implemented at the existing airport.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been the pivotal focus of the country's industrial diversification drive and continues to be so as the country embarks on gas-based industries. The two LNG plants Ras Laffan Liquefied Gas Company (RasGas) and Qatar Liquefied Gas Company (Qatargas) are both adding new capacities. Work is under way on RasGas' third LNG train, while construction of a fourth train is scheduled to start this year. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the fourth train has been awarded to an Italian/Japanese joint venture of Snamprogetti and Chiyoda Corporation with Mitsui and Company. Trains 3 and 4 will add a further 9.4 million tonnes per year (tpy) to RasGas' capacity by 2006.

Qatargas is also planning to build two new trains with a capcity of 7.5 million tpy in 2007 and is undertaking a major debottlenecking of its existing plant, which will see capacity rise to 9.5 million tpy in 2005.

The Dolphin project, which aims at exporting natural gas from Qatar's North Field - the world's largest single reservoir of gas - to neighbouring countries is being pursued in earnest. The project involves the construction of a subsea pipeline to the UAE.

A $2 billion pipeline supplying Qatari gas to Kuwait is also set to go-ahead following Saudi approval for the pipeline to pass through its territorial waters. The pipeline will be built by a new public-private company involving Exxon and a number of Gulf investors.

Meanwhile, the plan to build a 1,600-km pipeline to channel Qatari gas to Pakistan is reported to have made some progress. The Gulf-South Asia gas pipeline, first initiated in 1989, hit delays in 1995 over differences in gas pricing, forcing the project to be reconfigured.

Meanwhile, state-run QP, which is spearheading a number of projects in the energy sector, has set the country on the path of becoming the gas-to-liquids (GTL) capital of the world. Work is expected to start shortly on a GTL complex planned by QP in joint venture with Sasol of South Africa. The Oryx GTL project at Ras Laffan will be the world's first commercial GTL facility producing 34,000 barrels per day (bpd). The $675 million EPC contract was awarded to Technip-Coflexip and the plant is expected to be commissioned in 2005.

QP is slso considering the construction of a new alkyl benzene plant in Mesaieed. The US-based Foster Wheeler is undertaking a feasibility study on the project which is expected to involve a complex with installed production capacities of: 100,000 tpy of n-paraffins and 80,000 tpy of linear alkyl benzene.

QP has recently awarded a QR163 million ($44.7 million) contract to carry out the Phase 2 upgrade of the Mesaieed tank farm to the local contractor Manco International General Contracting. Enereco Qatar is the consultant on this project.

The engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) contract entails the demolition of the existing crude oil tanks and the construction of six new ones. The project work is scheduled to be completed by July 2007.

Manco is also building 14 tanks for RasGas II as part of the train 3 project at Ras Laffan.

QP has meanwhile invited contractors to prequalify for a contract for second phase work on a project to upgrade the sewerage network and refurbish pumping stations in Mesaieed and for the phase 2 upgrade of Halul Harbour.

A hazardous waste treatment plant being set up at Mesaieed by QP is likely to be ready by 2004. The QR70 million ($19.25 million) plant, the first of its kind to be established in Qatar, will be able treat industrial waste left behind by units across the country.

Early last year, Qatar launched the construction of the country's first private sector power and water project. The $718.4 million Ras Laffan plant will have a capacity of 750 MW and 40 million gallons per day (gpd) of desalinated water in its first phase, which will rise to 1,500 MW and 80 million gpd in the second phase.

The plant will be commissioned shortly and will become fully operational in May 2004. US firm AES owns 55 per cent of the plant's shares, Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) holds 25 per cent and the rest is equally owned by QP, which will provide the plant with natural gas, and Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corporation.

Meanwhile, the local Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) is to press ahead with phase 5 of the Qatar power transmission project. The US-based BP Power is its project consultant.

Qatar is planning to build its first science and technology park at the three million sq m campus of the 'Education City' outside Doha. The park will integrate research, business and educational programmes with a focus on the country's oil and gas installations. A design engineering team is currently finalising conceptual designs for the park's first phase, which is expected to require an investment of $32 million.

Work on the project will begin within two years and should take about 10 years to complete. The project has been conceived by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, a private, non-profit organisation and is being handled by QP.

Education City contracts worth more than $150 million have been awarded so far. The largest package, worth an estimated $75 million, has been won by a local group of Midmac Contracting and Contraco for the construction of the Academic Bridge Arts and Science College.

A joint venture between the US' Contrack International and Darwish Engineering has won a $71 million contract to build the Weill Cornell Medical College, another Qatar Foundation project.

Some QR646 million and QR450 million have been allocated for roads and drainage projects respectively in the 2002/2003 budget. Greece-based Joannou & Paraskevaides has two contracts for the Salwa and Immigration interchange development estimated to cost $56 million and $44 million respectively, which are due for completion by the end of this year.

Qatar last year tendered two major contracts which form part of the part of the Qatar Primary Routes project. These include the Dukhan Highway and the North Highway.

The estimated $128 million Dukhan Highway contract includes the detailed design and the construction of approximately 80 km of new highway from Doha to Dukhan which will upgrade the existing road to dual four-lane carriageways including grade-separated interchanges and substantial lengths of two-way collector roads.

The $330 million North Highway project calls for three main roads, totalling about 150 km, to be upgraded to full dual four-lane freeway standard, with several grade separated interchanges, and all related works.

Another major highway project is the $365 million Doha Expressway, extending approximately 50 km, which includes the detailed design and construction of a six-lane urban expressway and an eight-lane rural expressway that will enable smooth traffic movement from Wakrah and Mesaieed in the south, to the northern regions outside Doha.

The Ministry of Municipal and Agriculture will issue pre-qualification tenders to local and international contractors shortly for the proposed Qatar National Library (QNL) building. The world-renowned Japanese architect/consultant Arata Isozaki has presented a futuristic design for the estimated $100 million project.

Site preparation work is currently under way and construction of the project is scheduled to be ready by September 2005. It includes the main library, which will be elevated high above the ground, as well as a conference centre and multipurpose hall.

* Work is progressing on the West Bay Complex. Located on a 5.5-hectare plot next to the Doha Sheraton, the mixed-use development involves the construction of an 18-storey hotel, a 28-storey office tower and two 22-storey apartment blocks. The complex also includes a 100-slipway marina, 20 townhouses, a multi-purpose ballroom and a sports club. The various elements will be linked by landscaped pedestrian walkways and supported by multi-storey and underground parking. The complex, being built by the local Construction Development Company (CDC) under a $130 million contract, is scheduled for completion by June-end 2004.

* The Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry is to construct a new building in Doha. The building on Grand Hamad Street is expected to be ready by the end of 2004 and cost between QR20 million and QR25 million. It will have seven storeys and a conference hall with a seating capacity of 600. A whole floor will be earmarked for exhibitions and programmes.

* Mesaieed Industrial City is developing a master plan for the development of the Mesaieed community over the next 25 years. Some of the projects included in this plan are in various stages of completion, including a new Mesaieed Medical Centre covering an area of some 2,800 sq m which will replace the existing facility. Construction is expected to be completed by September next year.

* The Commercial Bank of Qatar, now renamed Commercialbank, is to build a 20-storey landmark office tower in Doha. Construction is expected be completed for the bank's 30th anniversary in 2005.

* Work is due for completion this month on the $16 million Gulf Tower in the West Bay area of Doha. The 22-storey office tower stands at the gateway of the newly defined Diplomatic Quarter and will be occupied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs later this year.

* Qatar's first industrial park, with manufacturing and research and development facilities, will come up in Doha in the next two to three years under a joint co-operation between the Qatar Industrial Development Bank and some leading Italian firms.