Government plans early completion of new port

Government plans early completion of new portQatar is planning to advance the completion of its mammoth QR27bn New Doha Port coming up near Mesaieed by 2020 rather than the original deadline of 2030 as the country heads towards hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022.Attempt is being made to “merge the first and second phases” of the project so as to complete the third phase of a total container capacity of 6mn TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) containers by 2020 itself, HE the Transport Minister Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti briefed the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani yesterday.As per the original plan, the first phase is slated to become operational by first quarter of 2016 to have a capacity of 2mn TEU with another 2mn TEUs expected to be operational by 2022 and 2mn TEUs by 2030.Strategically located south of Doha, the  project, which spans a 26.5sqkm area, includes a new base for the Emiri Naval Forces and the Qatar Economic Zone 3.On June 19, 2007 HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who was then the Emir, issued Decree No 37, setting forth the creation of one of the world’s largest Greenfield port developments.The transport minister also briefed the cabinet about the expansion of the current Doha port and increase of its capacity to 750,000 TEUs.Riding on the wave of the successful initial public offer (IPO) of a Qatar Petroleum unit, state-owned transport entity Mowasalat is likely to come out with a similar offer.Al-Sulaiti briefed the Cabinet about the public offer in the future, along with plans for privatisation of Mowasalat, the public transport company. Mowasalat, which operates the Karwa brand of taxis and buses, had initially planned to go public in 2013, according to an announcement made  three years ago.Al-Sulaiti  informed the cabinet about his ministry’s plans to increase the number of taxi companies and  cars to provide better services to public and future projects such as the express transport. The minister said the transport ministry would  introduce  new bus stops and stations.Apart from its own Karwa taxis, Mowasalat has allowed two more franchisee companies -Al Million and Alijarah - to ply on Qatar’s roads. The cabinet took necessary measures for the issuance of a draft law to amend some provisions of Law No. 8 of 1990 on the regulation of food items after the Cabinet took note of the Advisory Council’s recommendation.According to the draft law, upon a decision by the director of the competent municipality or the director of the competent department at the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning and Ministry of Public Health, a violating store may be closed. Closure shall be through administrative means and a banner reading “the store was closed due to violation of human food control law” is to be pasted on  the front side of the store. The closure decision is to be posted on the website of the ministry that issues the  decision.The Cabinet approved  draft memorandums of understanding on strategic co-operation between the General Tourism Authority and each of Qatar Airways, Mowasalat  and the Supreme committee for  projects and heritage.The decisions of the Cabinet were announced by HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah al Mahmoud. Page 2Qatar’s first IPO in three years ‘heavily’ subscribedBy Santhosh V Perumal/Business ReporterQatar’s first initial public offer (IPO) in three years has received “very significant” demand from local individual investors that it has been “heavily” subscribed.Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding Company (MPHC), a subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum (QP), had offered 323.19mn shares at QR10.2 a piece through its recently closed IPO to garner as much as QR3.23bn.“The IPO was heavily subscribed for,” said a spokesman for MPHC, which is the umbrella holding for Q-Chem I, Q-Chem II and Qatar Vinyl Company, together which generated aggregate revenue of QR4.3bn and net profit of QR1.6bn in 2012.Although the spokesman did not specify to what extend the offer was oversubscribed, a top official of one of the offer subscription receiving banks said: “It has been oversubscribed by multiple-times.”Individual applicants would be advised of their subscriptions by SMS, said a spokesman of MPHC, whose competitive advantages include reliable and competitive feedstock supply, low energy costs, an excellent strategic location, a global and diverse customer base and highly integrated operations.“The success of this historic IPO clearly demonstrates the confidence investors have in the strengths of MPHC’s compelling story and the attractiveness of the innovative long-term savings programme which the government has put in place,” Energy and Industry Minister HE Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada said.The “successful” IPO has provided so many Qatari nationals with an opportunity to become shareholders in MPHC and to participate in the prosperity and the success of Qatar and in the future of the country’s petrochemicals sector, al-Sada, who is also the chairman of QP, said.The IPO, which began on December 31  and closed on Tuesday (January 21), is part of QP’s 10-year savings and investment programme.Although the allocation of shares is expected to be finalised and announced on January 30,  with any refunds to shareholders to be made by the same date; as per the offer document, in the first tranche, subscriptions of between 50 and 750 offer shares will be allotted in full.In the second tranche, subscriptions above 750 shares will be allotted equally in multiples of 50 shares, provided and to the extent that the number of remaining offer shares available for subscription is sufficient to satisfy all such subscriptions in full and equally.If no multiple of 50 shares is remaining for allotment, the remaining shares will be distributed equally to all remaining shareholders, the document said.It is proposed that the MPHC shares, which are set to come under the industrials segment, will start trading on the Qatar Exchange during February.The IPO, through which QP offloaded 26% stake to public, was primarily reserved for Qatari private individuals with minimum subscription at 50 shares and a maximum of 1mn.Many lenders as Doha Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, International Islamic and al khaliji had extended 100% financing.Apart from this issue, QP is also offering “incentive” shares to Qatari nationals, who subscribes in the IPO, after five and 10 years (2018 and 2023 respectively), provided they retain at least 50% of their shares purchased in the offering at all times.