(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) The New Port Project steering committee today entered into a second contract with Middle East Dredging Company for digging the main sea canal of the port at a cost of QR 5.4 billion.
The new contract includes digging the main canal with a length of 20 kilometers and a depth of 15 meters, dredging 44 million cubic meters of soil and rocks, reclaiming approximately 5.4 square kilometers of land for the Emiri naval forces base, and constructing of 9 km of external breakwaters, as well as digging a 300 meter wide sea canal.
This is the second of the port construction contracts, after the first major contract for the construction of the basin was awarded to China Harper company in January last year, at a value of QR3 billion.
The QR 27 billion commercial port will be built to the north of Mesaieed Industrial Area, located south of the city, Doha, with estimated capacity of two million containers a year, and up to 6 million containers by 2030.
In a speech during the signing ceremony, the Chairman of the New Port Project Steering Committee Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al Nuaimi said that this contract which was won by a local company will pave the way for other works considered essential to accomplish this huge project.
Al Nuaimi considered it one of the most important development projects taking place in the State of Qatar in the infrastructure sector and represents an important step towards the achievement of the Qatar National Vision 2030.
With regard to the progress of work in building the port basin carried out by the Chinese company China Harper, Al Nuaimi said "the company is about two months behind schedule", noting that there are meetings with them to overcome the delay and adhere to the timetable.
For his part, the project manager for the new port Engineer Nabil Al Buainain affirmed that all environmental studies for the project were completed before the start of the operational work, stressing the importance attached to the safety of the marine environment.
