{"id":528162,"date":"2018-08-01T08:57:31","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T08:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/?p=528162"},"modified":"2021-06-16T16:04:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T16:04:38","slug":"qatar-100-billion-on-world-cup-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/global-economy-sustainability\/qatar-100-billion-on-world-cup-infrastructure.html","title":{"rendered":"Qatar: $100 billion on World Cup infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Qatar<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Doha\u2019s Corniche at sunset is full of Westerners jogging with a few Arab families, their women wearing the hijab<\/em>, taking a stroll with the skyline behind them. This long, half-moon-shaped artificial beach was designed to recreate the atmosphere of the French Riviera promenade<\/em>, and it has become the liveliest area of the city. It is lined with luxury hotels like the historic pyramid-shaped Sheraton, and dominated by the marble cube of the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by star Chinese architect I. M. Pei. Behind the Corniche is a maze of streets in the souk<\/strong>, where people flock to the restaurants and night clubs that remain open until the wee hours. During Russia\u2019s<\/strong> World<\/strong> Cup<\/strong>, Qataris \u2013 who are the Gulf\u2019s biggest football fans — packed the souk\u2019s shisha<\/em> bars. This is more<\/strong> than<\/strong> just football<\/strong> mania<\/strong>. In<\/strong> four<\/strong> years<\/strong>, it will be Doha\u2019s<\/strong> turn<\/strong> to host<\/strong> the World<\/strong> Cup<\/strong> and, for Qatar,<\/strong> it will be more than just the biggest<\/strong> international<\/strong> event<\/strong> in<\/strong> its<\/strong> history<\/strong>. It will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve its status in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For these reasons, its infrastructure<\/strong> plan<\/strong> is nothing less than gigantic<\/strong>. According to the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED), Qatar<\/strong> will spend<\/strong> $100<\/strong> billion<\/strong> on infrastructure<\/strong> linked to the world\u2019s<\/strong> most<\/strong> popular<\/strong> football<\/strong> tournament<\/strong>. It is an important challenge and Qatar wants to be ready to meet it. When it was picked in 2010 to host the World Cup, it was an historic<\/strong> event<\/strong>: the first<\/strong> time<\/strong> for an<\/strong> Arab<\/strong> nation<\/strong>, and the first time for such a small country, to host<\/strong> it. From the very start, the government laid out such a massive<\/strong> investment<\/strong> programme<\/strong> that in February 2017 Finance Minister Ali Shareef Al Emadi said Qatar was investing $500 million in infrastructure<\/strong> each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bulk of the investments are concentrated on construction of the stadia, of which Qatar has practically none: spending is around $10 billion<\/strong>, according to a Qatar government agency SCDL. With a four-year countdown to the event, it is still<\/strong> not<\/strong> clear<\/strong> how<\/strong> many<\/strong> stadia<\/strong> are needed<\/strong>: Qatar has designed and started to build<\/strong> eight<\/strong> of them (see WBV https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/infrastructures\/stadiums-as-works-of-art.html). But since then the FIFA has changed its mind. So the number<\/strong> of stadia<\/strong> could rise<\/strong> to 12 if the next World Cup is played by 48 countries instead of the current 32. The final decision has not yet been made, even if at the moment the construction<\/strong> underway<\/strong> has already reached<\/strong> a price tag of $50 billion<\/strong>. All the projects are being funded by mixed<\/strong> public<\/strong>–private<\/strong> partnerships<\/strong> (PPP).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stadia, of course, call for a cascade of infrastructure spending, especially for transportation, to enable fans to move around to matches played by their countries: highways, parking lots, fly-overs, bridges and all of the other public works works needed to host millions of visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Qatar
West Bay, Qatar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSoft\u201d infrastructure  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The stadia<\/strong> and the Doha<\/strong> subway<\/strong> system (https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/stories-behind-projects\/revolutionising-the-way-doha-moves.html)<\/strong> are the most cyclopean<\/strong> infrastructure<\/strong> works Qatar<\/strong> is undertaking<\/strong> ahead of the World<\/strong> Cup<\/strong> in terms of size and visual impact. But another part of the investment is going to so-called “soft Infrastructure”, which are smaller but still necessary. At the top of this list is an overhaul of the sewage system. To achieve this, the public agency Ashgal has approved a vast<\/strong> plan<\/strong> called IDRIS<\/strong>, to build new sewers to drain<\/strong> all the waste<\/strong> water<\/strong> produced<\/strong> by the southern part of Doha. The project calls for the construction of a main pipeline<\/strong> below<\/strong> the<\/strong> city<\/strong> 40<\/strong> kilometres<\/strong> long, along with 70 kilometres of run-offs and catchments for a total cost of $2.7 billion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other main \u201csoft<\/strong> infrastructure<\/strong>\u201d effort is for road transport: the Expressway Programme is the equivalent of IDRIS for streets<\/strong>. Ashgal is planning to build<\/strong> 240<\/strong> intersections<\/strong> and off<\/strong> ramps<\/strong>, ranging from simple and every day stop lights to tunnels and flyovers. The country\u2019s most important road project is the New<\/strong> Orbital<\/strong> Highway<\/strong>, a ring road that will surround Doha on three sides (the fourth side faces the sea) and will include a lane dedicated solely to truck traffic.The investment in this case will reach $4.6 billion. Other traffic arteries in the works are the Lusail Expressway, which will link Doha with Lusail, a satellite community (for a cost of $959 million); and the East-West Corridor, a ring road that is budgeted at $458 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An investment for the future<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Qatar\u2019s<\/strong> population<\/strong> has tripled<\/strong> from 700,000<\/strong> to 2.2 million<\/strong> people over the past 10 years: the growing demand for housing has led to the construction<\/strong> of entire new<\/strong> towns<\/strong> (or actually more like suburbs or satellite cities than actual urban centers). To meet these new housing demands, new<\/strong> real<\/strong> estate<\/strong> developments<\/strong> are in the pipeline. The most important are Lusail City, Msheireb, Downtown Doha, Airport City and Energy City. No official numbers on single projects have been released, but according to a study by the Oxford Business Group, the state has set aside $20 billion for tourism and housing in these sparkling new suburbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These real estate developments are part of a broader<\/strong> explosion<\/strong> in the construction<\/strong> industry<\/strong>. According to Qatar\u2019s Development Ministry, the building sector has posted continuous year-on-year growth since 2010. The same Oxford Business Group study calculates that the Qatar<\/strong> National<\/strong> Vision<\/strong> 2030<\/strong> programme<\/strong> \u2013 a mega<\/strong> state<\/strong> development<\/strong> plan<\/strong> that has mapped out the country\u2019s economic strategy for the coming years \u2013 calls for public spending of some $200 billion (including the $100 billion earmarked for the World Cup). This avalanche of money will bring investment<\/strong> spending<\/strong> in Qatar<\/strong> to reach 30% of gross domestic product<\/strong>. A level unseen in any other country in the world, and one that goes a long way to demonstrating Qatar\u2019s ambition to create a prestigious role for itself in the Gulf and the entire region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doha\u2019s Corniche at sunset is full of Westerners jogging with a few Arab families, their women wearing the hijab, taking a stroll with the skyline behind them. This long, half-moon-shaped artificial beach was designed to recreate the atmosphere of the French Riviera promenade, and it has become the liveliest area of the city. It is lined with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":193556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[19021,19002,19009],"yst_prominent_words":[6343,377,3176,14931,6354,6350,811,15986,1319,6340,3671,7495,15920,5212],"class_list":["post-528162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-economy-sustainability","tag-middle-east","tag-new-challenges","tag-sport-and-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528162"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":547192,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528162\/revisions\/547192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528162"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=528162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}