Qatar, A Country - Transforming Construction, Infrastructure And The Legal Climate Of Qatar

As the title suggests, to live in Qatar at the moment is to witness one of, if not the, most rapid stages of national infrastructure development on the planet. The current development agenda is, quite simply, staggering. From a nation with humble origins, the discovery of oil and gas assets in 1942 set Qatar its first major industrial challenge. On its North East coast, it answered that challenge with the Qatar Petroleum's multi-billion dollar Ras Laffan Industrial City built to harness the country's natural reserves. By achieving 77 million tons per annum production capacity, Qatar is now the world's leading exporter of LNG, and Ras Laffan has helped it get there. It now boasts the world's largest LNG port terminal (with six LNG berths, of which four have QMax capability). Aside from its well developed hydrocarbon economy, Qatar is now focussing on its national infrastructure (not only as part of its FIFA 2022 World Cup plans, but as part of a greater 2030 National Vision).

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...and Ships

Everywhere you look in Doha, there are not just projects, but megaprojects on the go. To demonstrate the extent of this, there are several multi-billion dollar projects that there is simply not space to mention in an article this size.

Qatar Railways Company is developing a 318km integrated rail system to include an overland passenger and freight system (approximately 325km), a light urban rail system and an impressive four line metro (with 100km underground). The project value is estimated in excess of $35 billion. The landmark station at Msheireb is expected to require more steel than the Eiffel Tower and the Burj Khalifa together. At this time of writing, new station sites are popping all over the city and 2014 will see the deployment of the first tunnelling machines.

Local newspapers have just reported that the new airport (New Doha International Airport / Hamad International Airport) is expected to open in a "phased opening" which will occur "by mid of 2014", based on announcement from the Chairman of the NDIA Steering Committee. The total project expenditure is expected to remain below $16 billion. The airport will feature two of the world's longest runways with A380 capacity and when fully complete, it will be three times the size of its older counterpart with annual capacity of 50 million passengers and 2 million tonnes of cargo. To put things in perspective, when the first phase opens, the airport will have an annual...

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