Tag: qatar rail

Plans for a new $20bn Doha Metro have already attracted more than 60 expressions of interest from international consortiums competing for a $7bn first phase of the contract to build tunnels, stations and other infrastructure.

A unit of Athens-based GEK TERNA said on Friday it has won new projects in Qatar and Bahrain worth a total of 138m euros ($184m). The two-level underground car park with a total area of 100,000 sq m, would have a Metro station built of top of it, the company said. The project is slated for completion in September 2013, it added.

Qatar is expected to spend a staggering $150bn on hosting FIFA World Cup 2022," said Robin MCcall, group CEO of Al Khaliji, noting that the major projects included development of Metro Rail, state-of-the-art stadiums, hotels as well as other infrastructure schemes.

The UAE has awarded a Dh3.3 billion contract to a consortium of one Indian company and two Italian firms involving construction and engineering work for a mega rail project that could cost a total Dh40 billion. Etihad Rail has estimated the project’s total costs at Dh40 billion and that once it is completed, it will have a capacity to transport nearly16 million passengers and 50 million tonnes of cargo per year.

The speed of the metro within Doha would reach 80km/h, and increase to 130km/h outside Doha. The metro lines are classified into three types. The red line extends over 177km across around 36 stations. It connects the north and south of Qatar linking Mesaieed City, New Doha International Airport, Musheireb, Lucile, Al-Khor, the North and Ras Laffan.

As the state prepares for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, projects in the pipeline include a $25-billion metro and rail network, an international airport ($10 billion), a new deep-water port ($7 billion) and a Qatar-Bahrain causeway ($4 billion). S&P (Standard & Poor's) estimates that the government will spend an additional 233 billion Qatari riyals ($64 billion) on infrastructure in preparation for the sporting spectacle, which is an estimated 47 per cent of its GDP.

Qrail's deputy chief executive has said that contractors had until September 25 to submit initial expressions of interest for the integrated rail project, which will include the $35bn Doha Metro as well as national freight and long distance passenger lines.

"Trans4 Exhibition-2011 has a strategic importance as it is organized in the host country of the World Cup 2022, with considerable budget allocated to set up world-class infrastructure." This includes a $20bn worth of road projects and the Doha Metro, the $11bn New Doha International Airport and the Doha new Port, as well as projects for the development of new cities such as Lusail and Mushairib city to mention just a few.

“The Doha Metro, the majority of which would be ready for the 2022 Football World Cup, is to comprise 170km track at grade level, 70km of elevated track, and 115km of tunnels,” he said. The GCC railway project, linking the six Gulf nations and spanning 2,200km will attract an investment of $30bn.

Projects in the pipeline include a 25-billion-dollar metro and rail network, some sections of which will be ready for the World Cup, and a 10-billion-dollar Doha International Airport, the first phase of which will open in 2012.