Qatar Rail ‘reviewing’ project in West Bay

Qatar is building from scratch a metro system and larger national rail network, including freight and long-distance passenger lines that must largely be completed when it hosts the 2022 soccer World Cup

Qatar has delayed a $3bn underground rail line planned as part of a multibillion-dollar infrastructure upgrade in the state after designs showed the project would run over-budget, several people familiar with the matter said.
Qatar Railways Company, the operator of the planned QR130bn ($36bn) rail network, in early September decided to rethink the design of the West Bay Automatic People Mover due to cost and the complexity of building a 11km, underground rail line through the heart of Doha’s glitzy new financial district, contractors and two people familiar with the matter told Zawya Dow Jones.
All tenders on the West Bay project have been cancelled until Qatar Rail concludes a feasibility study into its options.
“Unfortunately Qatar Rail announced that the project is frozen,” said Mickey Raviv, director of marketing and business development at Bombardier’s transport division, which bid for the rail system.
The other bidders were Siemens AG, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and a consortium made up of Marubeni Corporation and KobelCo.
Raviv said Qatar Railways had told Bombardier that it would retender the contract once it had assessed its options.
Qatar is building from scratch a metro system and larger national rail network, including freight and long-distance passenger lines that must largely be completed when it hosts the 2022 soccer World Cup. The state has plans to spend some $150bn on domestic infrastructure over the next five years, which has attracted huge interest from local and international companies alike.
Qatar’s review of the West Bay project comes at a time when other Gulf states are also reconsidering some of their spending plans amid concerns over the economic outlook in the US and Europe, slowing growth in Asia and falling income from lower crude oil prices.
Qatar said last week economic growth may only reach 5% in 2012, down from 15% this year.
“With expensive, major works looming on the horizon for the 2022 World Cup, it is unsurprising to see some projects in Qatar slowing down,” said David Roberts, deputy director at Doha-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.
“This is an expensive rail system for a very small part of Doha -- it was always likely to be a challenging project.”
The West Bay system is set to feed into the Doha Metro and was originally due for completion in 2018, with construction slated to start in early 2012. Deutsche Bahn did the masterplan, supervision and design on the scheme, while Lea + Elliott conducted preliminary engineering.
Qatar Railways is now considering a variety of options for the West Bay project, including taking the lines above ground to street level.
“They think this will be cheaper and less complex,” said one person familiar with the matter.
Another person familiar with the matter said the start date for construction could be pushed back by around 18 months.

Gulf-Times.com