The contract of a major road developer working on the ambitious Doha Expressway project has been terminated by the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), sources said yesterday. The source said work by Germany-based Bilfinger-Berger, the main contractor of the Doha Expressway/22 February Street has been halted as well. While no one could be reached at the company, whose listed telephone lines are never picked up, an official at the Doha Expressway Project office at the Ashghal yesterday did not deny the news when requested for a confirmation. Earlier, on August 12, reports in the Arabic press said that the work on the project had been suspended due to a dispute between Ashghal and Bilfinger-Berger. The reports attributed the dispute to payments. The Doha Expressway project is part of the road development programme which aims to connect north of Doha with the south and east with west. The 22 February Interchange (Packages 1 & 2) is part of the overall QR8bn Doha Expressway project which includes 12 other packages. The current status of the project can best be categorised as still under execution after it was supposed to be completed in Q2 of 2008. It was now expected to be completed in March 2010. Phases I and II of the project, work on which was ongoing includes development of a main highway from the Immigration intersection to the Midmac intersection including service roads, infrastructure and landscaping works, construction of 4 main interchanges Omar bin Khatab, Al Rayyan (Jaida roundabout), Juaan and Al Sadd (an extension of the Al Sadd street). The scope of work included for the contractor included construction of a 6km highway including 3 lane dual carriageway, crossovers, underpasses and 4 grade separated interchanges. http://gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=313711&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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