Marina Sarruf, special envoy*
Doha – Qatar is getting ready to expand its connections with the world. By the year 2009, the country will have a new airport and a direct flight to Brazil. Total investment in the airport is US$ 10 billion. With an area of 35 square kilometres, the airport will have a 4.85 kilometre-long runway, the second longest in the world. To give an idea of the size of the construction project, 75 local and international companies are working on it.
The construction site for the New Doha International Airport (NDIA), in the capital of Qatar, was visited last Saturday (04) by a delegation of construction sector businessmen from Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, who are currently visiting the Gulf. The trip, which began on October 26th and ends today, was organized by the Federation of Industries of the State of Santa Catarina (Fiesc) and by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
According to the engineer in charge of the construction, David Robinson, of US-based company Overseas Bechtel, it is estimated that the airport should receive 24 million passengers per year from 2009 onwards. Up until now, US$ 6.4 billion have been invested to prepare the ground. “The project has been going on for ten years, but remained dormant for five years after gas was found at the site,” Robinson said.
The preparation of the ground has required 60.5 million cubic metres of sand. According to Robinson, water can be found 2 metres deep in Qatari soil. Thus, the soil must be thoroughly compacted. The passenger terminal and the airport runways are being built respectively six and three metres above sea level.
Another figure that impressed the Santa Catarina executives was the dimensions of the tunnel dug for cables and pipes for electricity and gas to run through, as well as other operations; it is 500 kilometres long. The new airport will also feature the country’s largest Mosque, a hotel, a product storage area and an exclusive terminal for the emir of Qatar.
A total of 3,500 trucks circulate around the airport construction site daily. Overseas Bechtel alone has 150 people working on the site. The company construction manager, Bill Smith, claims that out of 75 companies working there, 50 are outsourced. Overseas Bechtel is also ready to build a new port in Qatar, eight kilometres away from the airport, with an investment of US$ 10 billion.
In addition to the airport, the country’s airline, Qatar Airways, is also expanding its flights. The company is going to launch a direct service to Brazil, first with four flights per week and later one per day. “Brazil has great potential as a destination. The country is growing and attracting businessmen from all over the globe,” said the company’s general planning manager, Richard Roberts.
According to Roberts, Brazil will be the first South American country to have a direct flight to Qatar. The Arab company has a fleet of 50 airplanes, and flies to 70 different destinations. Last year, it transported 6.5 million passengers, and estimates for this year are of 8 million passengers. “We are growing 30% per year in transported passengers. By 2015, we expect to double that number,” Roberts claimed.
The half public, half private Qatar Airways also plans to add from five to seven new destinations per year. The company employs 7,000 people.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
