At least 50% of the estimated $7.4bn (QR27bn) work at the New Port project (NPP) in Doha will be awarded to Qatari contractors, reports The Peninsula.
The NPP has already signed 18 contracts worth QR9bn with different companies. Of this, ten companies are Qatari entities. Almost half of the remaining QR18bn contracts would also go to local companies.
"We are committed to make sure that a major slice of the QR27bn contract is going to local companies. The subcontract works would also go Qatari companies. But we would encourage foreign companies, too, to have JVs with the local companies," said NPP executive director Nabeel Mohammed Al Buenain.
"We are putting all the details for the future contracts on our website. The local companies need not wait for newspaper notices to submit their tenders. The NPP will launch an Arabic version of the website soon," added Al Buenain.
The NPP Steering Committee anticipates at least nine future tenders, which are expected to be floated between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014.
The project works include construction of a bridge/causeway over the tidal channel that drains the area between the reclamation area and the New Port area. This is in addition to the announcement of another 11 major contract works.
Al Buenain said work is progressing according to the original project schedule. "If everything goes well, we will open the Port during Q1 2016," he said.
Over 10% of the project work has been completed, including 32% of the excavation works.
The New Doha Port Container Terminal will have a capacity of two million 20 ft container equivalent units (TEU) per year, with the possibility to expand to six million TEU a year in the future.
The terminal will be developed in three phases. The first phase is to be completed in 2016. The second and third will be completed in 2020 and 2030 respectively.
The NPP celebrated a milestone on 1 July 2012 with the laying of the first precast concrete block of the 8km quay wall.
It will comprise 35,000 concrete blocks, each between 37 and 96 tons, with more than a million cubic meters of C40 concrete used. The quay wall will take more than two years to build.
ConstructionWeek
17 January
