Qatar witnessed the commissioning of a considerably large number of highways, other roads and infrastructure projects during 2017, especially in the second half after some of the neighbouring Gulf nations and others declared an economic blockade.
Compared to the previous years, which also saw the opening of a number of infrastructure projects across the country, residents witnessed a substantial number of major roads, bridges and many other similar developments, with several in the immediate neighbourhoods of Doha.
Almost every other week in the second half of the year featured either the opening of a new road, or bridge. The road connectivity in the southern region received a remarkable boost as several new ones were opened during the period.
This included a number of roads connecting the Hamad Port with the rest of the country, the main one being the commissioning of several vital stretches of the nearly 200km long New Orbital Highway, linking the southern areas with the northern industrial city of Ras Laffan.
With the opening of those vital links, smooth traffic movement of heavy vehicles, especially goods carriers from the port to the northern area without entering anywhere in Doha is now possible. The complete commissioning of the more than QR20bn 12-lane highway is on the cards for 2018, according to the indications from Ashghal, the Public Works Authority.
Similarly, Lusail Expressway and the Doha-Industrial Area road (Rawdat al-Khail) also got a new face lift in the second half with the opening of the new tunnels along the roads.
The G-Ring Road and other new roads, all part of the East West Corridor and providing easy connectivity for the Hamad international Airport with the western areas of Doha too were also commissioned between July and December.
Rayyan and suburbs witnessed the opening of new interchanges along Shafi Street and Qila signal areas. Similar developments are in full swing in several roads in and around Qatar Foundation's Education City and Gharrafa areas, the prominent of which is the Dukhan Expressway stretch from the Immigration office in Gharrafa.
The second half of 2017 also witnessed new road and other infrastructure developments in Bani Hajer and neighbourhoods in western Rayyan.
A few days ago, Ashghal announced its determination to complete a number of FIFA 2022 World Cup related projects in 2018. Ashghal president and senior engineer Saad bin Ahmed al-Muhannadi said QR21.8bn would be allocated for the Public Works Authority's projects in 2018, including QR11.08bn for highway builing, and QR8.88bn for infrastructure and other roads.
