(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatar will invest around QR664bn in infrastructure, excluding projects in oil and gas sector, in the next five years, said H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, the Minister of Economy and Trade yesterday.
"The building materials manufacturing sector is particularly important in Qatar in light of the unprecedented boom in the construction and real estate sector," said the minister while addressing a conference organsised by the GCC and Yemen Building Materials Manufacturers Forum.
"It is expected to have an exponential rate of building materials manufacturing activities to execute infrastructure megaprojects. In fact, the estimated value
of the projects to be executed in the five coming years is QR664bn without including oil and gas projects or private sector ventures," he said.
He said there were 432 building materials manufacturing companies in Qatar worth $10.4bn and employing 36,400 individuals in the areas of cement, gypsum, sand, stones, glass and fibreglass used in building materials and plastic materials used in the manufacture of pipes and insulating materials, dyes, construction chemicals, and metal industries such as iron and aluminium used in the manufacture of construction materials
He said that globally the importance of green building is on
the rise and Qatar government is keen on encouraging
such buildings
"There is an international trend towards green buildings. Thus, we are witnessing an increasing attention given to eco-friendly materials and offering incentives to produce these materials and use them in the construction
of new buildings in GCC
countries in order to achieve sustainability and protect the environment," he said.
"We are keen to adopt investment opportunities in the area of green products in order to achieve sustainability for new buildings and facilities," he said.
"Demand of building materials is increasing and studies reveal that GCC building materials manufacturing facilities are still incapable of meeting the needs of the building market," said Abdulaziz bin Hamad Al Ageel, Secretary General, The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC). "Thus, building materials are being imported from international markets. For instance, despite the increase in the number of metal products industries (2,685 factories in GCC countries), most of these factories are still considered SMEs with a total investment value of $11,033m," he said.
Experts said that rise in green buildings has increased the demand for building materials required to build such buildings
"The new worldwide trend is towards green buildings, the production and use of eco-friendly materials and energy efficiency within facilities. This movement resulted in the creation of new and unconventional building materials that are in line with the new building specifications requiring the use of green materials and offering incentives to manufacture these materials in order to achieve the highest levels of sustainability," said Al Ageel
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