All pictures: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula
Qatar’s first beach entertainment hub, the Qetaifan Island North is now more than halfway complete and is expected to receive visitors by the third quarter of next year, an official has said.
Speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of a media tour to explore the island project’s construction site yesterday, Sheikh Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Head of Business Development at Qetaifan Projects said about 60 to 65 percent of the island’s Phase 1 projects are now completed.
Located off Lusail City, structures for the 1.3 million sqm island project are now taking shape. And officials are confident that the much anticipated water park, beach club, luxury 5-star hotel, retail plaza, and linear park will be ready to welcome visitors just before the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022.
“We’re very optimistic about the progress of the construction for all the project packages. This includes our four operating assets which consist of the beach club, linear park, in addition to the hotel and the water park. These will be delivered before the World Cup. Hopefully by Q3, 2022, we’ll have all of these ready; subject to certain authority approvals in addition to certain testing and commissioning protocols. And then we will be more than happy to welcome all of our investors, residents, and visitors,” Sheikh Nasser said.
He added: “About 60 to 65 percent of the Phase 1 projects are now completed. And 30 to 40 percent will be completed by next year before the World Cup. It’s now all about finishing the packages, testing and commissioning, and relevant authority approvals and protocols”.
According to Sheikh Nasser, construction for the whole island is currently valued at over QR4bn, while investment opportunities at Qetaifan Island North are estimated to be worth over QR15bn.
“Investment opportunities are over QR15bn, but construction of the whole island is over QR4bn, which includes all the infrastructures, in addition to all the packages, in terms of all the operating assets, and the community facilities which is the mosque,” Sheikh Nasser said.
He added: “Qatar is currently seen as a business destination, and we have an average visitor who stays for around four days. We think that by offering these second to none services in terms of the whole service of the entire island, the daily live entertainment on our linear park, in addition to our operating assets, we think that this will emphasise and also improve our tourism statistics both outbound and inbound”.
About 7,000 workers are currently working 24/7 to complete the island development, with a recorded 15 million man working hours. Five contractors are involved in the project, and an average of 3,000 vehicles are entering and exiting the site daily, according to officials from Qetaifan Projects.
Sheikh Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al Thani (second left), Head of Business Development at Qetaifan Projects, Stefano Capaccetti (left), Managing Director at Rixos, Hesham Sharaf (third left), Chief Operating Officer at Qetaifan Projects, Engineer Mustafa Al Cherkawi (right), Construction Engineer at Qetaifan Projects, and other officials pose in front of the luxury hotel during the media site tour at Qetaifan Island North, yesterday.
Building constructions for the beach club and luxury hotel are almost complete; with the beach club now estimated to be 80 to 90 percent ready and about to be landscaped. Foundation structures have also been already laid out for the retail plaza and festival plaza. Once completed, the retail plaza will feature a total of 13 buildings and 335 parking bays, while the festival plaza will include six blocks of Arabian Souq, total of 15 buildings, and 1,100 parking bays.
Once fully operational, the island is expected to have a capacity of around 25,000 to 30,000 daily visitors including the residents, said Sheikh Nasser. “The residents will be around 10,000 to 15,000, while the island can accommodate 10,000 to 15,000 daily visitors. Also, the water park’s capacity is between 6,000 to 6,500 daily visitors,” he added.
To date, all of the 107 villa plots at Qetaifan Island North have already been sold out, and Qetaifan Projects is currently in negotiations with certain real estate development players in the local, regional, and international market for the development of community facilities and certain residential components of the island, added Sheikh Nasser.
