Qatar, host of the 2022 football World Cup, invited local and international companies on yesterday to signal their interest in building the Doha Metro, to include 22km of tunnels and 15 stations in its first phase. The six Gulf Arab states, including the UAE, plan to spend more than $100 billion on a rail project linking them up by 2017.
Dubai construction firm Al Habtoor Leighton, an affiliate of Australia’s Leighton Holdings, is eyeing two contract wins in Saudi Arabia worth up to SR10 billion each ($2.67 billion) by year end, its top executive said.
The wider integrated system includes the Doha Metro Network; an east coast rail link; a high-speed link between the new Doha International Airport, Doha City Centre and Bahrain via the planned Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Bridge; a freight rail link based on the GCC rail link studies
Call it Qatar’s two-track real estate development strategy. The gleaming new high-rises in the upscale West Bay enclave answer to Qatar’s need for a swanky real estate profile that is in tune with its soaring global aspirations. At the same time, the Gulf state is not about to let go of its traditional moorings, and a newly unveiled development — Musheireb — and its masterplan offer a sneak peek of how this is going to be achieved in the capital, Doha.
