In an attempt to ease Qatar’s congestion woes, its road infrastructure development programme is moving ahead in top gear. The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has recently received bids from contractors to build the Orbital Highway on the outskirts of Doha which is part of the government’s plans to spend QR100bn on upgrading the country’s roads and drainage infrastructure over the next five years. The Orbital Highway project is just one of the 35 contracts that will be awarded as part of Qatar’s expressway development programme. In February, six major projects were in the detailed design stage, five in the concept design stage and a further 15 construction contracts are scheduled be tendered in the future. US-based KBR is the programme manager for Ashghal’s expressway programme. The new roads together with Doha’s proposed metro system are aimed at alleviating congestion in the capital. “This is just one aspect of Qatar’s transportation programme that will see a major upgrade in the next few years. It will be the subject of massive investments that will propel Qatar’s transport system into one of the most modern and advanced in the world,” said Edmund O’Sullivan, Chairman, MEED Events, organisers of Qatar Transport 2013, which begins today at the Renaissance Doha City Centre Hotel, presenting a detailed overview of Qatar’s transportation sector including comprehensive projects forecast, projected cargo and passenger growth, and forecast material costs. Renowned senior-level industry speakers and private sector experts will provide the latest updates on Qatar’s core transportation sectors, such as local roads and drainage, expressways, rail and metro, airports, ports, and tunnelling. The conference’s morning session will be dedicated to examining the investment and projected project activity in Qatar’s transportation infrastructure market, outlining the market drivers, contract awards forecast until 2018 as well as fundamental challenges confronting the sector. A Rail Roundtable will also be conducted that will showcase international best practice in design, engineering and technologies of Qatar’s integrated rail programmes. Discussions and presentations on road safety and the efficient delivery of local roads, drainage and strategic highways will also be among the highlights of the first half of day one of the conference. Later in the afternoon, the conference will focus on management and funding strategies for major capital infrastructure projects in Qatar, with a dedicated discussion panel on project finance challenges and strategic risk planning; as well as potential for public-private sector partnerships. Delegates attending the conference will have the unique opportunity to earn professional credits through the Continuous Professional Development workshops to be conducted later in the evening in association with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Topics that will be covered include Cost planning and indices for Qatar construction projects; Navigating Qatar’s construction law and contractual practices; and Rail development in the Middle East: Integrating international best practice with reference to Maglev and HS2. Qatar Transport 2013, supported by Bentley, Henkel, EC Harris, Grace Construction Products, Hyder Consulting and Louis Berger, is expected to attract a large and influential international audience, and thus provide attendees unprecedented networking opportunities that are available with high profile government representatives, project owners, general engineering consultants, contractors, financiers and investors, and specialist service providers to the transport industry. Source : Qatar Chronicle

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