• Home
• Qatar
• News Article

New USD15bn Doha airport slated to begin operations in December

By Zawya Staff
09 April 2012
The Qatar government aims to complete the first stage of the New Doha International Airport project in December 2012, while it plans to open the new port by early 2016. Combined cost: nearly QAR 80.2 billion (USD 22 billion). These projects are considered the most prominent infrastructure projects in the emirate.
Abdul Aziz Al Noaimi, chairman of Qatar Civil Aviation Authority and Head of the New Doha Port Project (NDPP) Steering Committee, said 90% of the airport project is complete. Doha's new airport is being built at a cost of QAR 54.6 billion, while the port will cost QAR 25.6 billion.
In the first phase, the New Doha International Airport will be able to handle 28 million passengers annually, equivalent to the capacity of Frankfurt airport, Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, and Fort Worth in Dallas. Once all phases are ready, Doha International will have the capacity to handle 50 million passengers.
First Gate
"The new airport will be the first gate of Qatar, the first impression of visitors, and thus Qatar attaches the greatest attention to this vital project," Al Noaimi said.
New Doha International Airport Highlights:

Total Cost	USD 15 billion
Completion Rate	90%
Opening Date	12/12/2012
Special Features	Longest runway in the world
Height of the Watchtower	85 meters
Capacity	50 million passengers

Source: Qatar Airways and the Civil Aviation Authority

The new port project has an area of 26.5 square km, and will have the capacity to process 10 million containers per year, compared to the current 300,000 containers and 2 million tons of cargo.

The New Doha International Port will be the largest sea port in the region, Al Noaimi said, pointing out that its design is "totally new and highly innovative", in addition to being compatible with environmental standards.

Project Design

Cansult Maunsell designed the port project for USD 33.4 million, while Worley Parsons was selected to manage the port for USD 149.3 million.

The project includes digging a marine navigation channel to secure the safety of ships at a length of 7 km, and a shipyard that is 17 meters deep, 6.3 km long and 700 meters wide.

New Doha International Port Highlights:

Total Cost	USD 7 billion
Total area	26.5 square km
Capacity	10 million containers
Special features	A 7 km long marine navigation channel, shipyard that is 17 meters deep and 6.5 km long, and a 7.2 km long breakwall
Completion rate	Completion of digging and filling works
Completion period of the project	Five years

Source: NDPP Steering Committee

Ali Said, expert in the management of Qatari customs, believes that the new Doha port will support growing trade between Qatar and the rest of the world while keeping pace with the commercial aspirations of the country.

The new port is also expected to save importers and exporters time and money, which will reflect on lower commodity prices. It will also support Qatar's ambitions to become a re-export "transit" center to neighboring countries.

Future Expansion

The new ort is being constructed in two phases. The first is expected to serve Qatar until 2025. The second will extend for another 25 years up to 2050.

Financial analyst Abdullah Al Benali believes the mega transportation projects will help finding effective solutions to the bottlenecks faced by most public facilities in Qatar, and also address the causes of delay in the completion of several other projects.

He believes that the high cost of the New Doha International Airport project will not affect the government expenditure rates, due to the availability of a large financial surplus and the high volume of available liquidity.

Al Benali hopes that the opening date of the New Doha International Airport will coincide with the recovery of the global economy, which will be reflected on international airlines, since the airport will be able to accommodate six Airbus 380-800 super-jumbo aircraft when all phases are complete.

The airport will include around 175 offices for the registration of passengers, surrounded by five water islands, in addition to 41 gateways for travelers and 22 outer terminal gates. It will create around 50,000 new job opportunities.

According to Akbar Al Baker, chief executive of Qatar Airways, the new airport will meet the enormous expansion of his airline.

© Zawya 2012

---

© Copyright Zawya. All Rights Reserved.

---