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Qatar will see $106bn worth of major projects until 2022 with significant investments in oil and gas, heavy industry, electricity generation and water desalination, social infrastructure and transportation links, Meed said in a report yesterday.
Infrastructure spending will dominate the next five years with around $65bn due to be invested in a series of new transportation schemes including the new $11bn Doha International airport, the $6bn Doha port project and a $25bn metro and railway.
Despite an expected slowdown this year, the outlook for the economy of the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas remains positive with GDP growth projected at 6%, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts.
British engineering firm Atkins is the latest European company to be awarded a project in Qatar after it won a $107mn contract earlier this month to set up a Central Planning Office for infrastructure and transport contracts, its second major contract win there in recent months.
“This latest contract win in Qatar strengthens our position in the region even further as we are working with government stakeholders to help them to deliver the most comprehensive and integrated infrastructure investment programme in the region’s history,” Atkins chief executive Uwe Krueger said.
Leading multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy, Hilson Moran, is another European company that is increasing its focus on Qatar after it opened its second GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) office in Doha last year.
Faced with a worsening debt crisis and the real prospect of a recession at home, several major European companies seeking new investment opportunities will be attending the annual Qatar Projects 2012 conference, which will take place in Doha from February 5 to 8 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
Atkins is one of several European firms attending the conference. Others include Mott MacDonald, Foster + Partners and GMP Architekten.
“More European architecture and construction firms are expected to head to Qatar as it invests heavily in building a world-class infrastructure system both for the FIFA World Cup Finals in 2022 and for Qatar National Vision 2030,” said Edmund O’Sullivan, Meed Events chairman.
While last year’s conference attracted some 644 attendees, the 2012 event has been expanded to include more client-led presentations and case study analysis, providing an in-depth look at the mega projects and investment and construction opportunities available. Increased focus on market research data with detailed sector profiles and forecasts providing invaluable future project information will add a new dimension to the debate with two days of interactive discussion.
Separate conference streams will focus on energy projects covering petrochemicals, power and water, road, rail, aviation, real estate, social infrastructure and sports sector initiatives.
Confirmed list of speakers includes; HE Abdulla bin Saud al-Thani, Qatar Central Bank governor; Nasser Ali al-Mawlawi, Ashghal president; Remy Rowhani, Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry director general; George Nasra, IBQ managing director; Saad Ahmed Ibrahim al-Mohanadi, Qatar Railways Company CEO; Khalifa al-Sowaidi, Qafco managing director; Monjid Abdelmajeed, Redco Construction-Almana managing director and Jalal Yousef al-Salihi, Ashghal director for infrastructure affairs.
Qatar Projects 2012 is sponsored by International Bank of Qatar and Redco Construction-Almana. The official conference partner is Qatar Petroleum, supported by the Ministry of Business and Trade and Ashghal.