DOHA: The Ministry of Environment is making final preparations for issuing Qatar Construction Specifications (QCS) 2014, a senior official has said.
Dr Mohammed bin Saif Al Kuwari, Assistant Undersecretary for Laboratories and Specifications at the ministry, said the new specifications will be mandatory for all government and private sector projects three months after issuance of the ministerial decision.
QCS 2014 will make roads and buildings safer by improving their quality standards. “The new specifications are an urgent requirement for the people and the nation because they can achieve the highest level of quality and safety in buildings and roads and improve their performance and efficiency,” a local Arabic daily quoted Al Kuwari as saying.
An important element of the new specifications is the technical requirements for concrete components that have taken into account the environment and seeks to resist earthquakes and winds and save energy.
A special chapter has been included to improve the safety of railways, said Al Kuwari.
Many firms producing ready mix concrete have applied the specifications on a trial basis in some road and building projects and found the results excellent in terms of quality and cost, he added.
Al Kuwari allayed fears that implementation of the new specifications could lead to an increase in the cost of construction materials. The purpose of QCS 2014 is to improve quality, not to increase cost, he said.
The issuance of the ministerial decision will be followed by an awareness campaign to familiarise companies with the new specifications.
Al Kuwari said the ministry will soon sign an MoU with American Society for Testing and Materials for putting the Qatari construction code at its database. This will help the code gain international recognition.
He said by 2017 the specifications will become international with the issuance of the Qatar Construction International Specification 2017 for hot areas. Until then QCS will be on vogue and upgraded in collaboration with authorities concerned.
The first edition of the unified GCC guidelines for construction will be launched this December and the Qatari specifications will be one of the main references for the code, he said.
The Qatari specifications authority is hosting a two-day meeting for the GCC specifications authorities to prepare a GCC construction code. The Peninsula
