\nThe announcement that Qatar is to host the 2022 FIFA football World Cup tournament has brightened the outlook for real estate and construction companies in the Gulf region.\n<\/p>\n
\nA number of developers are already working in the Gulf state and others in the region are hoping to get some of the action from the region\u2019s first ever global football competition.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2018We would expect to be in a position to win a share of such a market as we have the correct experience both in stadiums, hotels, residential and retail projects and the like we are optimistic about our chances,\u2019 Arabtec Construction chief executive officer Thomas Barry told Arabian Business.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2018We expect that there will be requirements for hotels, residential, leisure and retail developments, all of which we have extensive experience in constructing,\u2019 he added.\n<\/p>\n
\nDubai based contractor Drake and Scull International (DSI), which has had an office in Qatar since 2004 and now employs 450 people in the Gulf state, also said it hoped that the Qatari share of its business would grow in the next decade.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2018There is tremendous upside on Qatar, there has been a lot of promise, but we haven\u2019t been able to pick up as much as we wanted to,\u2019 said Zeina Tabari, DSI\u2019s chief corporate affairs officer.\n<\/p>\n
\nThere was always a significant government spend planned for Qatar over the next 10 to 15 years, according to Tony Saadie, executive general manager for Al Habtoor Leighton Group Qatar but this will now increase.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2018The World Cup will now ensure that the expenditure will be accelerated. There will also be increased expenditure in the building sectors for projects such as hotels which prior to the World Cup win were not previously forecast as being greatly required,\u2019 he explained.\n<\/p>\n
\nInternational firms will also be hopeful of securing major deals, although DSI\u2019s Tabari said that the current regulatory environment makes it hard for external contractors to win the big projects at the moment.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2018It depends on how easy the regulations become. At present in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, it is very difficult for companies to come in, as it\u2019s mainly regional and local firms,\u2019 she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2018On the other hand, in Qatar, not a lot of companies have that expertise, particularly on the MEP and infrastructure side. There is going to be a lot of supply in terms of work, and I\u2019m not sure that there are enough companies in the market to cope with that demand,\u2019 she added.\n<\/p>\n
\nIrish mechanical and electrical engineering company Mercury Engineering has already benefited from its work in Qatar. It came up with the zero-emission cooling system that reduced temperatures at the Doha 2022 Showcase Stadium, which played a key role in helping convince FIFA executives that the summer heat could be overcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nThe announcement that Qatar is to host the 2022 FIFA football World Cup tournament has brightened the outlook for real estate and construction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"persona":[],"class_list":["post-2911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n