Qatar: 50 Billion Dollars in Infrastructures for the 2022 World Cup

Qatar will host the Football World Cup in 2022 yet 2015 will already welcome a first global event with the Volleyball World Championships. Qatar, a small but important constitutional monarchy in the Persian Gulf, is set to become the centre for events of international calibre: the country is consequently already working on a colossal plan of action focusing on infrastructures where sport and hospitality play the main roles. It is therefore evident that Qatar over the next few years will be one of the most interesting markets for Italian construction companies, making ready to compete in the international tenders for projects with a significant impact on supplies of machinery and materials.
In reality, the Government of Qatar, regardless of the assignment of the Football World Cup in 2022 and the Volleyball World Cup in 2015, respectively confirmed 2 December 2010 and 27 January 2011, has already launched an ambitious development programme named National Vision 2030. This plan was further strengthened in the dossier that Qatar presented to the FIFA Executive Committee, the organ that controls world football. The Government of the Emirate, in short, has undertaken to spend an astonishing 50 billion dollars in infrastructures to welcome the Football World Cup.
Briefly, these are the main projects, starting with transport: the plan in this sector is essentially based on the Transport Master Plan for Qatar, adopted in 2006. The Plan envisages the introduction of integrated metro/railway systems to ensure communications between the main cities in the country and to create new connections with other countries in the Gulf region (Saudi Arabia and Bahrain), with an estimated budget of about 24 billion dollars. The flagship project is the construction of the high speed railway between the capital Doha and Manama that by 2019 will reduce travel time between Qatar and Bahrain by one hour. An integrated multi-modal transport system will also be implemented, named Doha Bay Crossing, to link the West Bay financial district with the airport, while a second high speed line will linked the country with the Saudi Arabia network by 2017. 2020 is also expected to see the commissioning of at least 70 % of the metropolitan networks in Doha and the other cities scheduled to host matches.
Qatar has already signed an agreement with the German Railways (Deutsche Bahn AG) for the design of the railway network.
A further 20 billion dollars will be invested to upgrade the road network, already largely recent and in good condition: in particular, Doha Airport will be connected directly to the cities hosting football matches and a new motorway will be built towards Bahrain. Qatar’s ambition to become the hub for transport in the region will also be strengthened by New Doha Port, destined to increases arrivals by luxury cruise liners. The new port will begin operations in 2014, with a luxury passenger terminal capable of welcoming several cruise liners.
There are also ambitious projects for air transport: the new International Doha Airport is currently being built, with an investment of 13 billion dollars. The airport – the first section of which will already be open to traffic in 2012 – will be able to handle traffic of 50 million passengers/year once completed in 2017.
In the offer presented to FIFA, Qatar proposed holding the World Cup in 7 host cities through 12 stadiums, 3 of which already existing requiring only renovation and 9 to be built from scratch, with an overall budget of about 4 billion dollars.
The problems posed by the climatic conditions in Qatar, which are especially prohibitive in summer months, will be met by equipping all stadiums with measures to reduce the impact of sunshine and warm winds, as well as cooling systems to ensure optimal temperatures inside these facilities, spectator areas and on the pitch. Among other things, all this will involve the use of sources of clean and renewable energy so that the Football World Cup in 2022 will be the first completely carbon-neutral finals in history.
As regards hospitality, then, the Plan envisages 94,000 new rooms, while Qatar has proposed a new model for the teams playing in the Finals – the entirely 5 star Team Base Camp Villages close to the cities hosting the matches.
Lastly, as regards Information Technology, projects among others envisage the installation of 25 thousand km of optical fibres by 2016.
These new investments will lay the basis for further growth in the future by increasing the competitiveness of the country and ensuring significant impetus for Qatar’s ambition plans, in its efforts to become not only a major tourist centre in the region but also one of the most important financial hubs in the entire area.
In the light of the foregoing, there are significant business opportunities for Italian companies. While the priority sector concerns infrastructures (including design and execution of projects, machinery, materials), the impact on the overall value chain covers numerous sectors such as contract, safety, sports facilities, environmental protection, energy and many others.
Source:  Samoter Press Room