Business & Money | Sunday 3 May, 2015 12:19 am |

Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail), the company overseeing the construction of the Qatar’s integrated railway network, is hosting an industry awareness day on May 7th to meet with the local Private Sector. The event will be inaugurated by His Excellency Mr. Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transportation.

Qatar Rail will be allocating a full day to present the rail projects’ business opportunities available to the private sector, and launch the prequalification process for the Doha Metro operations, and the Lusail tram operations as well as the management of their related facilities.

During this meeting, the private sector will be informed of all potential business opportunities within these projects to encourage their participation and facilitate initial communication with Qatar Rail contractors.

Commenting on this occasion, Abdulla Abdulaziz al-Subaie, Managing Director of Qatar Rail, said:

“The aim of this event is to encourage the participation of the private sector by investing in the country’s mega projects, and to fulfill the national vision through involving the private sector in the rail projects in order to create a solid partnership between the public and private sectors.”

He added: “The participation of the private sector in the rail projects has reached high levels such that local manufacturer’s contracts are at 61% - as we relied on manufacturers of raw materials and providers of transportation equipment to supply what’s needed in terms of cement, sand, iron - in addition to the private companies 15% share of the joint venture contracts for the Doha Metro and Lusail Light Rail Transit”.

Despite the fact that the railways sector is new to the region and requires the latest technologies and specialised skills that might be difficult to be fully supplied locally, Qatar Rail ensured to encourage private companies to bid for the joint venture contracts with international companies. This is because the local companies have a lot of expertise with the existing systems and logistics in the country’s projects, while international companies have the needed knowhow to build the rail network, thus forming a strong alliance and providing all the requirements to complete the projects.

Besides, Qatar Rail collaborated with the Qatar Development Bank, in cooperation with a global consultancy firm, to identify the potential business opportunities for the private sector within the rail projects. That being said, 104 opportunities were monitored, which is considered beneficial to the national economy.

Qatar Rail has already held several meetings with local companies to demonstrate the scale of the opportunities available to the Qatari private sector. Those gatherings helped to shed light on the needs of mega projects so that Qatari companies share insight on how they can contribute to developing these vital infrastructure plans.