Qatar’s plans will not be affected by lower oil price, but there may be more opportunities for private finance to play a role in the country’s infrastructure, the MEED Qatar Projects Conference which opens in Doha next month will be told.
“The slide in the oil sector will not affect Qatar’s ability and willingness to execute their plans,” says Mamoon Alameen, a specialist on project delivery. “It may, however, catalyse PPP (public-private partnerships) in many sectors.”
Alameen is a speaker at the conference, the premier event for all those wishing to do business in and with Qatar in the years to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The conference is being organised with the support of Ashghal, Qatar’s public works agency.
Alameen said that projects needed to support the FIFA World Cup finals 2020 will play a critical role in delivering Qatar’s long-term vision.
“World Cup projects are very small compared to the infrastructure projects the state of Qatar planned to undertake even before being awarded the (tournament),” he said. “World Cup projects, nevertheless, will play the role of a catalyst to prioritise projects and give a firm deadline for their completion.”
Alameen said the scale, number and complexity of the projects planned in Qatar will required a different approach by those responsible for managing them.
“The interdependence between resources and interconnected projects underline the need for complex optimization and careful planning beyond the usual methods,” he said. “Careful planning by both the private sector and the public sector is necessary to prevent overheating.”
“Management science allows the minimisation of stress on the market,” Alameen added. “Qatar has a unique opportunity to do this because of its unique structure that allows coordination to reduce cost and increase efficiency.”
The annual MEED Qatar Projects Conference is at the Grand Hyatt Doha on 10-11 March 2015. It is organised in partnership with Ashghal and in association with GORD. Daruna is gold sponsor; IBQ is gala dinner sponsor; Engineering Consultants Group (ECG) is conference sponsor and Qatar Steel is associate partner. Al Jaber Engineering is exhibiting.
To find out more about the MEED Qatar Projects Conference, see www.qatarprojectsconference.com.