Dubai: Qatar will finance its $35 billion rail projects through government funding as it floats and awards a number of rail project tenders this year, a top official at Qatar Railways Company said.
The Qatari Ministry of Finance will fund the rail projects, with the 130-kilometre Doha Metro on track to open by October 2019, said Sa’ad Al Mohannadi, chief executive of Qatar Railways Company.
The company will award the tender for the red line of the Doha Metro underground package in March while the tender for the gold and green lines will be awarded in the second quarter, he said.
Tenders for the rolling stock and systems will be floated in April and awarded by the first quarter of 2014, he said during a presentation on the company’s plans at the Middle East Rail conference.
The bids for track work will be floated in August and awarded in the second quarter of 2014. The company will award the bid for operations and maintenance in the fourth quarter of 2015.
“We are on a clear plan to keep Doha moving,” Al Mohannadi said, noting that the railway plans were initiated before the country won the bid to host the World Cup in 2022.
The biggest challenge for the rail projects now is recruiting the right people and construction with minimum impact to people in the surrounding areas, he said.
The company is planning to hire 360 people by the end of the year through a global recruitment campaign, according to Al Mohannadi.
The GCC countries have jumped on the bandwagon for rail projects relatively late in the game, rail officials said.
“In the region we are behind. We are investing heavily to catch up,” said Hamad Al Yousuf, civil and track director of projects at Saudi Railway Company.
The Saudi Landbridge project, a 950-kilometre line connecting Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea and Gulf coasts, will enter the design stage that will take 12 to 14 months before the construction tenders are floated, he said.
