The work of the QR237.7mn Aquatic Fisheries and Research Centre in Ras Matbakh, on the country's southern side has been completed, Ashghal announced.
Engineer Abdul Hakim Ahmed al-Hashemi, head of Public Projects Section, Buildings Project Management Department, said the project meets the highest standards of construction quality and design and the green building system pursued by Ashghal since 2010.
The facility stretches over 101,000sqm. The centre is a scientific institution specialised in marine environmental research and studies and fish farming, aiming to help monitor and protect marine ecosystems, develop and increase local fish production, support biodiversity and train national human force on using modern technologies in aquaculture.
It is expected that the production capacity of the fish hatchery unit will reach 2.4mn larvae through four seasons per year. The production capacity of the shrimp hatchery unit is expected to reach 2mn larvae through four hatchery seasons per year and the final production of shrimp is six tonnes per year.
Al-Hashmi said the research centre project is made up of three main units, consisting of a marine fin fish hatchery, a marine shrimp hatchery, and various buildings specified for scientific and administrative laboratories, in addition to services and supplement buildings.
The fish and shrimp farming unit includes a number of sub-units and facilities, including a water pumping station, a marine fish hatchery, incubation units, fattening fish, a fish pond processing unit and six different laboratories.
The administrative office building contains two floors, including 28 administrative offices, two meeting rooms, and a lecture hall.
The centre also includes a number of buildings and other related services such as generating rooms and electricity control as well as buildings for feed stores, maintenance workshops, workers' dormitories, staff accommodation, shaded boats, marine boats parking, car parks and landscapes.
The project aims to establish a national centre specialised in marine applied aquatic studies and researches, and equipped with the latest equipment and techniques to benefit all the scientific institutions concerned with the marine environment.
The centre can carry out researches and studies to identify kinds of fish and crustaceans that are most economically feasible in Qatar’s environmental and climatic conditions.