Qatar focus

LAYING DOWN Asphalt machine is new in the country.
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One of the first jobs for heavy machines will be to move a sprawling old rubbish dump to a new and better landfill facility elsewhere. This will be the first time that such a mission has been attempted in the region, to the best of our knowledge.

Undoubtedly a complement of wheel loaders, excavators and dump trucks will be needed to scoop the muck out – and presumably land-fill spec compaction rollers will be required at the other end.

After this, the ground works for the terminal building are scheduled to begin. Phase I and II works of the Passenger Terminal Complex, which are carried out by Turkish TAV Construction and Japanese TAISEI Corporation Joint Venture, are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
 

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Elsewhere on site, work continues on the new runways and hangars – this claims to be the first airport capable fully handling the Airbus A380.

Back in 2007 Malaysian contractors Gamuda Berhad and WCT Engineering won the US $490 million contract to design and build the runways, road tunnels and other facilities.
 

After this the consortium ordered a large amount of equipment, including two asphalt plants made by Linnhoff. “The (consortium) is placing about 10,000 tonnes of asphalt per day,” said Linnhoff Technologies general manager Thomas Wolf.

“The contractor is working six days a week, and using a fleet of Tata trucks from India to shuttle the asphalt to the laying areas,” he told us last year.

Machinery Suppliers
The two main road maintenance suppliers are Modern Construction Co. and Roots Qatar, while there are also around a dozen equipment rental firms in the capital. For heavy equipment, the major brands are well represented and the area is well serviced.
 

Obaikan Equipment & Services represent Bobcat, and Araco deal in Volvo. Less common far eastern brands are also represented.

Rail projects
All of the countries in the region seem to have got a taste for light rail at the moment and Qatar is no exception. Unlike the rest of the GCC though, they don’t seem in any particular hurry to begin.

A company named Qatar Rail has just been launched with the entire project overseen by another company called Qatari Diar.

The plan is for a rail system that combines light passenger trains for the city, while tying up to a larger freight network nationwide.

However, plans are still at an early stage, as no track will be laid before 2012 so there is plenty of time to investigate possibilities for bids and tenders.