Construction of the New Port in full swing.
By Satish Kanady
DOHA: Qatari contracting companies will have a major stake in the big ticket construction works of the upcoming New Port Project (NPP).
The NPP will make sure that at least 50 percent of the project’s estimated QR27bn work is awarded to local companies.
The NPP has already signed 18 contracts worth QR9bn with different companies. Of this, 10 companies are Qatari entities. Almost half of the remaining QR18bn contracts would also go to local companies.
The bidding process is transparent so that local companies can easily become part of this big ticket project.
“We are committed to make sure that a major slice of the QR27bn contract is going to local companies. The sub contract works would also go Qatari companies. But we would encourage foreign companies too to have joint ventures with the local companies,” Nabeel Mohammed Al Buenain (pictured), Project Executive Director of NPP, said yesterday.
“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. NPP would soon launch an Arabic version of the website,” he said.
The NPP Steering Committee anticipates at least nine future tenders, which is 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 the first Quarter of 2016,” he said.
Over 10 percent of the project work have been completed, including the 32 percent of the excavation works. The contracting companies are supposed to recover their lost days, if any.
The New Doha Port Container Terminal will have a capacity of 2 million, 20ft container equivalent units (TEU) per year with the possibility to expand to 6 million TEU a year in the future. The terminal would be developed in three phases. The first phase would be completed in 2016. The second and third would be completed in 2020 and 2030.
The New Port Project celebrated a milestone on July 1 last year with the laying of the first precast concrete block of the Port’s 8km quay wall.
On completion of this earth retaining structure, which will share the harbour and enable ships to berth, will include over 35,000 concrete blocks. With each concrete block weighing between 37 and 96 tonnes, and with more than 1 million cubic metres of C40 concrete being used in the construction process, the wall will take more than two years to build.
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