Minister of Transport H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti
Minister of Transport H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti affirmed that the National Day of the State of Qatar is a cherished annual occasion in which the people of Qatar renew determination to complete the ancestral march to build a modern country looking forward to the future and adhering to its heritage and its ancient past.
In statement to QNA, the Minister extended his warm congratulations to Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, and to the wise government and the people of Qatar.
He explained that this year’s celebration of the National Day is exceptional in the history of the country, whose name has always been associated with all the historical and exceptional achievements, especially since this year’s celebration coincides with the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which the State of Qatar has succeeded by all measures in organizing this global event and presenting it to the whole world in the best possible way.
He added that over the past years, the people of Qatar used to celebrate this occasion with the participation of their fellow residents, but this year the whole world, with its different cultures, is celebrating the National Day with the Qatari people under the slogan “Our Unity is the Source of Our Strength”, pointing out that the importance of this exceptional event, as it comes as a culmination of a career that has spanned more than ten years full of achievement and development in various sectors in order to successfully host this global event.
He continued that while the world champion is crowned with the most popular championship, the Qatari people celebrate the success of their country and its wise leadership in adding a new achievement to the record of its historical and exceptional achievements, namely the organization of the football World Cup.
The minister explained that this precious occasion is an opportunity to renew the determination to continue building on previous achievements, and to exert all efforts to elevate the nation and support the process of development and comprehensive renaissance, and achieve further development, growth and prosperity for the Qatari people, in addition to showcase the tremendous achievements and successes that have contributed to strengthening the position of the State of Qatar at the international level in comprehensive and sustainable development.
In terms of the achievements of the Ministry of Transport, the Minister stressed that the State’s victory in hosting the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has contributed significantly to accelerating the pace of sustainable development processes in the country, in line with achieving the pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030.
He underlined that since the announcement of Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup, all the efforts of the State have been directed towards providing an honourable global model in all business that reflects the great potential of the State in hosting major sporting events, and at the same time leaves a real legacy for the rising and subsequent generations, and what the country witnessed at the well-organized opening ceremony is the best proof of this, as Qatar provided a role model in organizing major world events, he explained.
The minister underscored that the World Cup was an important opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the transport and communications sector in Qatar and the extent of the development of these means, as this tournament allowed visitors to Qatar to get a closer look at the high levels of this vital sector, in terms of road infrastructure, clarifying that the ministry has prepared preliminary engineering designs for a number of road networks, including identifying programs, priorities and timetables for their implementation in coordination with the concerned authorities.
He noted that the total length of the road network exceeded 12000km, including the transport network specified for the World Cup with a total length of 2100km related to all stadiums, containing bridges and tunnels, in addition to footpaths, and bicycles paths to promote a healthy lifestyle for all visitors and residents on the land of the country.
The Minister revealed the strategic role of Hamad Port in ensuring the smooth flow of goods and materials to the local markets to meet the requirements of the championship, pointing out that the number of ships coming to Hamad Port during the period from November 18 to December 10 reached 109 multi-type vessels from container ships and Ro-Ro ships, while the number of ships coming to Ruwais port reached 76 multi-type vessels, and these ships handled 85.308 modular containers, more than 100.000 tons of general cargo, in addition to handling 5233 units of equipment and cars, and 12.227 heads of cattle.
In the same context, he explained the contribution of the redevelopment project of Doha Port, carried out by the Ministry of Transport, to enhance its capacity to receive the largest cruise ships in the world, as it receives three floating hotels during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, to be a witness for visitors to the importance of this facility in supporting tourism.
In order to achieve the Ministry’s vision of making the transport sector environmentally friendly, the Ministry of Transport has launched a gradual transformation strategy for electric vehicles, which includes plans to gradually convert public transport buses to 100% electric buses by 2030.
The first stage of this strategy was completed by providing more than 25% of the bus fleet for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to be electric, in addition to adopting a policy of using pure diesel fuel equivalent to the European classification (EURO-5) for all buses and trucks that will be imported to the State of Qatar, starting with the models manufactured for the year 2023.
The Minister of Transport Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti noted that the Public Bus Infrastructure Program has become considered one of the most environmentally friendly programs in the world, and acquires great importance as it accompanies the start of the championship, and among the components of this program is the Lusail Bus Depot, which won the Guinness Award, as it is the largest electric bus depot in the world, with a capacity of about 500 buses.
In addition, the Doha Metro and Lusail tram are electric-powered public transport systems, as well as the second container terminal at Hamad Port is equipped with the latest environmentally friendly equipment and equipped with the latest technologies based on environmental sustainability and clean energy, thus enhancing Hamad Port’s position as the largest environmentally friendly project in the region.
The Minister of Transport said that with the network operating at maximum capacity, effective crowd management is a key element to ensure the safety of the network and users. Therefore, a dynamic model was developed to predict the expected demand for Doha Metro services and facilities. 37 operational plans for each station of the Doha Metro network were developed and tested, as well as 7 plans for the seven Lusail Tram stations currently operating.
