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| Nasser Ali al-Mawlawi addressing the delegates |
Since the inception of the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), the value of projects undertaken in Qatar stands at around QR60bn, and this number is set to increase over the coming years, according to president of the authority, Nasser Ali al-Mawlawi.
He claimed that work is going according to schedule on most of the plans, with around QR100bn to be spent on contracts for infrastructure development over the next five to
seven years.
“There are a lot of projects that are going on, and progress is really going on as per schedule in most of the projects,” he told Gulf Times at the Qatar-Japan seminar on Infrastructure Projects and Water and Wastewater Technology
in Qatar.
Al-Mawlawi said that the main projects under construction at the moment include the Salwa Road project, the Dukhan central section and the F Ring Road project, as well as various projects associated to water treatment and other infrastructure within
residential areas.
“The main priority is to develop infrastructure that will have an impact on the population and the public, doing residential areas and doing critical and priority highways – that is what is important to us,” he said.
Al-Mawlawi added that as a result of their work throughout the country, residents must be prepared for roads and other areas to be dug up.
“The major projects for the Public Works Authority will require excavation – there is no way that you can develop infrastructure without excavation, it is not a virgin land.”
“If you are working in residential areas then people are going to notice, and we would like to minimise that impact but they need to look at the outcome of it, which will provide them with better infrastructure,” he added.
And although he is pleased with the results of some of the work so far, he intends to see a greater improvement in the traffic situation in the future.
“I am pleased and these are projects which will relieve the public in terms of traffic and improve residential areas; but my expectations are higher than that,” he said.
Al-Mawlawi expressed his hope to see more Japanese companies involved in construction and infrastructure projects in Qatar in the
future.
“We have a couple of Japanese companies participating in our projects and they are really delivering a good performance, and we would like to see more in the construction and public works authority field,” he noted.
