Qatar's awarded port contracts reach $3.8 bn

Qatar has awarded contracts for its new container port worth nearly 14 billion riyals ($3.8 billion) and nearly 53 per cent of them were won by national contractors, the Gulf country’s transport minister was quoted on Tuesday as saying.

“The contracts awarded so far for the new port have reached 14 billion riyals…Qatari companies have won 53 per cent of the contracts or around 8.2 billion riyals ($2.24 billion),” Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti told Qatar’s ‘Al Raya’ Arabic language daily.

He said nearly 50 per cent of the new port in Mesaieed south of the capital Doha has been completed and that the first phase will be ready in 2016.

Sulaiti said the port, which will cost 27 billion riyals ($7.4 billion), would handle two million containers when the first phase is completed, adding that capacity would reach six million tonnes after the completion of phase two and three.

‘Al Raya’ said the new port, spread over 26 square km, is one of the largest infrastructure projects undertaken by the gas-rich Gulf country and one of the biggest port development ventures in the world. The port is to replace the existing Doha port when the first phase is launched.
 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.