PSD and Ahli Bank officials led the signing of agreement to finance the construction of the new PSD building on Monday. It was attended by ambassador Santos, faculty members and students. PICTURE: Imelda Enrile

By Joey Aguilar
Staff Reporter

The construction of the new building of Philippine School of Doha (PSD) in Abu Hamour will start immediately and is expected to be finished in two years.
Engineer Josel S Leanda, chairman of Task Force PSD building and a member of the school’s board of trustees (BOT), stated that the new campus will be operational in the middle of 2017.
“Construction will start immediately and it can be used by our students and teachers by 2017,” said Leanda, while addressing a press conference on the formal signing of agreement between PSD and Ahli Bank on Monday.
The agreement was signed by Ahli Bank CEO Salah Murad and PSD principal Dr Alexander Acosta at PSD’s gymnasium. It was attended and witnessed by Philippine ambassador Wilfredo Santos, the school’s board of trustees, faculty members and a number of students.
Leanda noted that the new building will have 300 classrooms which can accommodate more than 4,000 students.
Some of the facilities will include various laboratories for computer, speech, physics and chemistry, and a bigger gymnasium, audio visual room, and mini-theatre. It will also have a bigger library and a number of sports facilities.
As the first Philippine science school in the Middle East, PSD is planning to change its name to Philippine Science School of Doha once the new campus is fully operational.
“The plan of changing the name, being granted a three-year accreditation by Qatar National School Accreditation, is a timely opportunity for the present school building,” Dr Acosta said in a press statement.
About the payment scheme, BOT vice chairman Gerardo Macasa said the school has enough savings to pay for the loan without considering an increase in tuition fees during the duration of the payment.
BOT chairman Edgar Bondoc echoed the statement of Macasa saying they will not raise tuition fees from Grade 1 to 10, which was approved by the Supreme Education Council.
“We are still studying in making a benchmark about the tuition fee for Grade 11 and 12. There will be no increase for Grade 1 to 10,” he said.
Ahli Bank has approved the QR108mn loan out of the total QR123mn needed to construct the new building.
PSD launched fund-raising activities in the past few years to get additional funds and nearly QR1mn has been raised so far.
For his part, Ahli Bank senior deputy CEO Mahmoud Malkawi said they are delighted to finance the conduction of the new PSD building.
“We will continue to seek opportunities to support educational institutions operating in Qatar,” he added.