By Ramesh Mathew

Staff Reporter

The residents of Doha’s sprawling Industrial Area, who have long been deprived of adequate shopping avenues that suit their purse, stand to gain considerably in coming days as more and more companies are announcing their operations in the densely populated area.

The unprecedented turnout witnessed at the opening of the Grand Mall in the West end Park Complex, near Mowasalat’s Karwa City, last Friday and the streams of visitors that flocked to the place in the subsequent days stand testimony to the developments taking place in the area.

“With the opening of a large mall in the proximity of the Industrial Area, its residents, who were otherwise, long deprived of such shopping facilities in the area until now, have got a remarkable boost and it could inspire many more entrepreneurs to try their business fortunes in the area in the coming days,” said a retailer who is also exploring chances for opening a similar venture in the Industrial Area.

Until the opening of the mall in the West End Park, the residents of Industrial Area, in particular low income bachelors, faced extreme difficulties in accessing the shopping centres in the city and its immediate suburbs. Most of the time they had to pay exorbitant taxi fares to reach those business/commercial locations as they had no public transport access from the Industrial Area.

However, the easy access to the new shopping mall from the Streets between 35 and 50, besides the excellent public transport connectivity to the neighbourhood of the new mall has made things somewhat convenient for the Industrial Area residents.

“We also get taxis returning to Karwa City from all points the road linking Industrial Area and West End Park,” pointed out inmates of one of the accommodations on Street 38 yesterday.

They expressed the hope that with the commissioning of the entertainment avenues, including four movie halls sometime later this year, as claimed by the owners of the West End Park, they would have better facilities in the area in near future. The complex is expected to house close to 70,000 residents, mainly bachelors, when it is completed sometime next year. 

The owners of another large shopping facility, the Mall of Asia, have also announced its opening in the main commercial locale of the Industrial Area. It is expected to open the gates later this month. Not over, another similar facility is under way in Ain Khalid.

The greatest attraction of the area, however, is going to be the Dragon Mart, which would house no less than 500 Chinese outlets in the nearly 8-km long Barwa Commercial Avenue running parallel to the Doha-Abu Abu Hamour road. 

Its promoters say the mall would cater to the varying requirements of all sections in the society.    

Owing to the numerous infrastructural developmental works taking place in different parts of the country and many more major projects in the pipeline, the population of Qatar, in particular in the Industrial Area, is bound to grow considerably in the next few years.

“Doha’s Industrial Area is one place where most companies these days are setting up the accommodations of their workers and as a result there would be a massive rise in the needs and requirements of its residents in the coming days,” said an Indian engineer, executing a commercial project near the Al Attiyah market area.

With more competition in business on the cards, some of the shopping centres located outside the Industrial Area are considering to introduce free transport for Industrial Area residents in a bid to attract them to their facilities, it is reliably learnt.

 

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