Rail to Award Doha Metro Logistics Partner Tender in 2012 Last Quarter

Q Doha, September 17 (QNA) - Qatar Railways Company (QRail) will award in the last quarter of 2012 the tender to appoint Logistics Co-ordinator for Doha Metro Network, a company official said here Monday. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the two-day Construction Leaders Forum which opened here today at the Hilton, Qatar Railways Company Chief Programme Officer Engineer Ghanim Hassan Al Ibrahim said, "The tender to appoint Logistics Co-ordinator for Doha Metro project will be awarded in November-December 2012." Among other key tenders to be awarded shortly, QRail will award tenders for underground lines and major stations in the first quarter of 2013 and for elevated lines in the third quarter of next year. Top engineers, architects, construction industry experts and decision-makers are discussing infrastructure delivery time scales, balancing modern development while preserving local traditions, managing Qatar's rapid expansion, improving transport links to support infrastructure and reducing the impact on the environment. In his presentation to the Forum, Al Ibrahim listed the salient features of the all phases of the four environment-friendly and innovative railway projects which will offer an efficient, world-class public transport system within Qatar and links to rest of the GCC nations. The four railways development projects - Doha Metro Network, Long Distance Network (GCC nations), Lusail City (Light Rail Transit Network) and West Bay Transit System are scheduled for completion starting 2016 to full operations of the network in 2019, he told the gathering. Lusail City LRT, comprising 36 modern stations over 38.8kms, will be the first project, costing QR 10 Billion, to be completed in 2016. "This will be the first achievement of QRail in 2016," said Al Ibrahim and replied, "We have already finished most of the excavation and tunneling work is done. Now under stations are being constructed and we are finalising all systems processes and suppliers," to question on the status of the project asked by Qatar News Agency (QNA). Innovation was a pre-requisite, the QRail official said in his presentation. "We encouraged all contract bidders to innovate and bring new ideas to execute the projects efficiently. "We mentioned a logistics strategy in the tenders to ensure normal traffic is not disturbed while project work is in progress.ne without disturbing regular traffic movement." One of the new ideas was moving materials on conveyor belts to a setup jetty and transfer it via barges to destinations like Mesaieed away from Greater Doha. "We designated main production logistics areas outside Doha for ensure traffic and the public are not affected by the project." "Our budget did not increase since we had allocated for this new logistics strategy," Al Ibrahim replied when QNA asked him whether innovation was at an extra cost. On developing businesses and industries around the periphery of the rail network, Al Ibrahim replied, "Under the projects' Steering Committee we are discussion all possibilities with Qatar Development Plan." Qatar's integrated railways development projects include the Doha Metro Network; an east coast rail link; a high-speed link between the new Doha International Airport, Doha City Centre and Bahrain via the planned Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Bridge; a freight rail link based on the GCC rail link studies; and the Lusail City LRT. (QNA)