The Minister of Commerce and Industry, H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, touring the exhibition after inaugurating ‘The Big 5 Construct Qatar 2019’ at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
The Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari opened the three-day The Big 5 Construct Qatar at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) yesterday.
The high-profile event dedicated to the construction industry, features thousands of the latest products and solutions to meet the country’s future projects’ demand. With over 150 exhibitors from 20 countries, the event also serves as a platform where international and regional construction players can meet face-to-face to do business in Doha.
To further promote international business at the event, a Hosted Buyers Programme will also be held in collaboration with the Qatar National Tourism Council (NTC), where buyers from 15 countries will meet with Qatari manufacturers and SMEs during scheduled face-to-face appointments. Over 35 free to attend Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certified courses are also available for construction professionals.
The panel discussions format is a new attraction at the event this year. The ‘Daily Debates’ will feature discussions on trending topics between industry experts. The first debate yesterday concluded with experts leading the panel discussion stressing the need to incorporate the latest technologies in the construction industry in order to minimise errors, waste, and cost.
“Building information modeling (BIM), which is an intelligent 3D model-based process is crucial in the planning, designing, and construction of projects. All new contracts with the Public Works Authority (Ashgal) should use BIM to minimise cost and errors. Also, with geographic information system (GIS) becoming more sophisticated in Qatar, there are plans to link BIM with GIS in some construction projects. Using technologies in construction is becoming the new normal, and the sector needs to be ready for this shift,” said Abdulrahman Rajab, Projects Management Advisor at Ashgal.
To date, the construction projects market in Qatar is valued at around $75bn. The construction and infrastructure market in the country is also set to pick up in 2019 and accelerate in 2020-2021, said the organiser of the event, dmg events Doha and MEED Projects in a report.
At $4.5bn, the value of work awarded in the first six months of this year is more than half the total for 2018 as a whole, providing evidence that the market is rebounding positively, the report added.
Qatar is spending tens of billions of dollars on sporting, transport, and tourist infrastructure to ensure the country is ready in time for the massive influx of players, officials, and supporters of the upcoming Fifa World Cup 2022.
There has also been healthy investment in world-class museums and outdoor public spaces, new hotel infrastructure and an expansion of the Hamad International Airport in order to accommodate the increase in the number of visitors.
Of the $75bn of construction projects in the pipeline in Qatar, the largest portion at 68 percent are defined as being mixed-use, which are a combination of residential, commercial, and retail.
There are also hundreds of future construction projects in Qatar ranging from small $10m boutique hotels to multi-billion-dollar master planned projects.
More than $23bn of future projects are currently in the design stage, indicating that they are due to come out to contractors to bid over the next 24 months or so. Longer term, there are more than $46bn worth of projects in the study stage, highlighting the healthy pipeline of project activity.
Top three largest projects in Qatar are the $9bn new city development around Hamad International Airport which is also the largest construction project in the pipeline, the expansion of the Al-Udeid Airbase which is the second largest project with a value of $1.8bn, and the four iconic towers at the giant Lusail real estate development rounding out the top three.
