Qatar rail and transport projects at $30bn, 2nd largest in Gulf

Qatar is the second largest rail and transport projects market in terms of current development in the Gulf region with rail, metro, tram and BRT projects in the country valued at more than $30bn, a new report has shown.

These projects are scheduled to be finished by 2020, ahead of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Finals, Meed has said in a report.

The GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) region now accounts for more than 50 rail and transport projects worth $140bn, it said.

Saudi Arabia has the greatest potential with projects worth $50bn due to be completed by 2025, the report said.

The third biggest rail market is the UAE, where $27bn worth of projects is due for completion by 2030.

Figures provided by Meed Projects show that there are now 108 separate railway, metro, monorail, tram and BRT projects under bid, under design or under study in 14 Mena (Middle East and North Africa) countries.

Opportunities in the Mena region’s $225bn rail, metro, tram and bus rapid transit (BRT) capital investment programme to 2030 will be highlighted at the Meed Mena Rail & Metro Summit will open at the Beach Rotana Hotel in Abu Dhabi on October 29.

Almost 50 expert speakers representing government and private businesses in the GCC, the wider Middle East and the world will address the event with more than 300 delegates expected to attend the conference.

Philippe Casgrain, vice president for Europe, the Middle East & Africa at Bombardier Transport will open the summit with a presentation outlining the key challenges those involved delivering hundreds of billions of dollars of railway projects face in the Middle East region.

One of the biggest issues is pressure on the Middle East project supply chain and competing demands for steel, cement and skilled labour from other sectors of the region’s booming projects market. About $2.2tn of projects are under bid, design or study, about half of this figure in the GCC.

The project pipeline in rail, metro, tram and BRT projects is formidable. According to Meed Projects figures, almost $40bn of projects are under bid at present. But about $90bn projects under design and more than 75% of projects are under bid, design and study and due to be finished by 2020.

Joining the opening keynote session at the summit will be representatives of major urban rail, tram and BRT programmes.

They include Dr Mohamed Montazeri, deputy managing director (planning and logistics) at the Tehran Urban & Suburban Railway Company. Iran has more than $15bn of major projects in the pipeline and two-thirds of this planned investment will be in the urban rail network of the Iranian capital by 2025.

Meed Projects figures show that more than $90bn of metro and light rail projects are planned in the Mena region by 2030. Planned passenger and freight rail investments of a similar value are projected in the same period. High speed railway projects of about $15bn are under study. Monorail and tram projects worth more than $10bn apiece are planned. There is a single large-scale investment in BRT, a $1.5bn project in Abu Dhabi. Prequalification of companies wishing to work on the project is now under way. But other cities are now seriously considering BRT as an alternative and supplement to new urban rail and tram ways.