March 2012.pdf - QC-Sites
March 2012.pdf - QC-Sites
March 2012.pdf - QC-Sites
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22<br />
SITES<br />
ConstruCtion<br />
More European construction firms head to Qatar<br />
Faced with a worsening debt<br />
crisis and the real prospect of<br />
a recession at home, several<br />
major European companies<br />
seeking new investment opportunities<br />
attended the annual<br />
Qatar Projects 2012 conference<br />
which took place in Doha<br />
last month.<br />
More than $106 billion of major<br />
projects will be awarded<br />
between now and 2022 in Qatar,<br />
with significant investment<br />
in oil and gas, heavy industry,<br />
electricity generation and water<br />
desalination, social infrastructure<br />
and transportation links,<br />
figures from MEED’s 2011/12<br />
Qatar Projects show.<br />
Infrastructure spending will<br />
dominate the next five years<br />
with around $65 billion due to<br />
be invested in a series of new<br />
transportation schemes including<br />
the new $11 billion Doha<br />
International Airport, the $6<br />
billion Doha Port project and a<br />
$25 billion metro and railway.<br />
مﻮﻴﻨﻣﻮﻟﻟ زرا ﺔﻛﺮﺷ<br />
AL-ARZ FOR ALLUMINIUM<br />
“More European architecture<br />
and construction firms are expected<br />
to head to Qatar as it<br />
invests heavily in building a<br />
world-class infrastructure system<br />
both for the FIFA World<br />
Cup finals in 2022 and for Qatar<br />
Vision 2030,” said Edmund<br />
O’Sullivan, Chairman, MEED<br />
Events. Despite an expected<br />
slowdown this year, the outlook<br />
for the economy of Qatar,<br />
the world’s largest exporter of<br />
liquefied natural gas, remains<br />
positive with GDP growth projected<br />
at 6%, according to International<br />
Monetary Fund (IMF)<br />
forecasts. British engineering<br />
firm Atkins is the latest European<br />
company to be awarded<br />
a project in Qatar after it won<br />
a $107 million contract earlier<br />
this year to set up a Central<br />
Planning Office for infrastructure<br />
and transport contracts,<br />
its second major contract win<br />
there in recent months.<br />
On the opening day of the con-<br />
ference, Qatar 2022 Supreme<br />
Committee Secretary General<br />
Hassan Al Thawadi commented<br />
that one of the main sustainable<br />
and economic benefits<br />
from the World Cup would be<br />
a more-than three-fold surge<br />
in Qatar’s tourism. Al-Thawadi<br />
added that the World Cup<br />
would contribute 10% growth to<br />
the value of the region’s hospitality<br />
and tourism sectors and<br />
said the event’s committee had<br />
studied the success models of<br />
previous global sporting events,<br />
specifically the 1992 Barcelona<br />
Olympics and the 2010 FIFA<br />
World Cup in South Africa.<br />
Al-Thawadi said the aim of the<br />
2022 World Cup was to bring<br />
sustainable social and economic<br />
benefit to the Middle East region<br />
as a whole. In a reference<br />
to the unrest that has affected<br />
the region, Al Thawadi pointed<br />
to the diversification of regional<br />
economies and job creations<br />
with considerable benefits for<br />
small-to-medium sized enterprises<br />
(SMEs).<br />
Referring to the World Cup in<br />
South Africa, Al Thawadi said:<br />
“This was very noticeable when<br />
Ghana was the only African<br />
team to qualify for the knockout<br />
rounds. South Africans of<br />
all colors and creeds united<br />
with the entire African nation<br />
and gave their full backing to<br />
the Ghanaian team. The World<br />
Cup was Africa presenting a<br />
unified face to the world.” During<br />
a speech addressing delegates<br />
at the second day of the<br />
conference, Qatar Central Bank<br />
Governor, HE Abdulla Bin Saoud<br />
Al Thani, delivered a vote of<br />
confidence in Qatar’s ability to<br />
finance more than $100 billion<br />
worth of projects to be completed,<br />
to realize its 2030 vision.<br />
At the end of 2011, total assets<br />
of the country’s commercial<br />
banks grew by 22.3% to $190.6<br />
billion in 2011 from 2010 while<br />
customer deposits increased by<br />
more than 18.5% to $100 billion,<br />
he said. Meanwhile credit<br />
facilities to customers rose by<br />
28.2% to $103.5 billion.<br />
Qatar’s financial performance<br />
was all the more impressive given<br />
fears of contagion from the<br />
eurozone debt crisis and slow<br />
growth in the United States and<br />
other developed markets.<br />
“Economies of many of the developed<br />
nations stagnated, suffering<br />
from a series of shocks<br />
due to the situation in the eurozone<br />
and reduced credit ratings<br />
for a number of major countries,”<br />
commented HE Abdulla<br />
Bin Saoud. The strength of<br />
Qatar’s banking sector underscores<br />
the Gulf state’s ability to<br />
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LocaL<br />
finance major planned projects<br />
given its financial sector performance<br />
and its projected GDP<br />
growth of 6% in 2012.<br />
Abdulla Bin Saoud Al Thani<br />
was speaking on the second<br />
day of the Qatar Projects 2012<br />
conference which began with a<br />
dedicated Sports Business Forum<br />
focusing on strategies and<br />
opportunities for developing<br />
the Gulf region’s fast growing<br />
sports business sector.<br />
More than 450 local and international<br />
delegates attended<br />
this year’s event, more proof if<br />
it were needed that the international<br />
business community<br />
recognizes Qatar’s huge project<br />
plans over the coming 18 years.
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