Ashghal, Qatar’s public works authority, has awarded two contracts worth €550mn (QR2.24bn) to a consortium led by French contracting company Bouygues Construction, Abu Dhabi-based The National reported yesterday.
The contracts cover the construction of two major sewage tunnels in Doha that are being built as part of the QR10bn Idris (Inner Doha Re-sewerage Implementation Strategy) project.
Aimed at massively increasing  the capacity of Doha’s sewerage and waste water network to cope with the needs of the rapidly increasing population, the project is scheduled to be completed over an eight-year period.
The work covers a northern section that will be up to 16km long and 3m wide, and a southern section that will be 14km long and 4.5m wide.
“The consortium, which includes the Qatari contractor Urbacon Trading & Contracting, is set to start work on site soon. It is due to hand over the completed tunnels in 2019,” The National said.
“For this ambitious project, we have developed an innovative technical solution that will enable us to address the customer’s concerns effectively and fully meet their expectations,” the daily quoted Jean-Philippe Trin, the deputy chief executive of Bouygues Travaux Publics, as saying.
Another of the company’s subsidiaries, Bouygues Batiment International, is working towards the completion of the Qatar Petroleum District – a complex with 700,000 sq m of space that houses nine office towers, a conference centre and a five-star, 400-bedroom hotel, the report said.
A report on Qatar’s economic prospects by Samba Financial Group estimates that $30bn of contracts are due to be awarded this year, and that contracts worth a similar figure would be awarded next year. The total amount of contract awards due between this year and 2020 is $135bn, according to the report.
A number of major sewage treatment works are currently under way across the country. The Doha North Sewage Treatment Works is among the prominent projects currently being executed.