The transformation of an economic model
For several years now, Qatar has sought to diversify its economy to reduce its dependence on hydrocarbons (now at 51%). Faithful to its strategy of large-scale infrastructure construction, the country continues to carry out numerous pharaonic projects. With the help of almost unlimited financial resources, the authorities have chosen a policy focused on investment, particularly in urban development, roads, the public metro and rail transport network, a new commercial port, a new international airport, leisure and prestige facilities, and in new industries: downstream oil, steel and aluminium. The authorities have launched a long-term development plan "National Vision 2030", since 2011 and articulated around 4 axes: creation of world-class clusters around the knowledge economy (Education city), development of a transport hub (metro, tramway, new airport), constitution of a financial hub (West Bay).
The Qatar Foundation is a state institution that rests on these two pillars: to provide the younger generation with a first-class intellectual education, provided by the best foreign universities located in the vicinity of Doha, and to preserve the country's cultural identity. The Foundation is of course generously endowed with funds to put its project into action. Its flagship project is undoubtedly Education City, located next to the Qatar Science and Technology Park, which is dedicated to the incubation of new start-ups. The Qatari authorities also wish to develop tourism: exponential development of the country's hotel capacity in view of the FIFA 2022 World Cup, construction of the artificial residential island of "Pearl Island"..
Liquefied gas production
Qatar is now neck and neck with the United States, the world's leading exporter of liquefied gas; the famous LNG that has preoccupied all countries since the war in Ukraine was triggered by Russia. In 2021, Qatar Petroleum announced the construction of what will be the world's largest LNG production center in 2030: the North Field Expansion Project, worth 29 billion euros. As a result, predictions are good: production is expected to increase from 77 million cubic meters per year to 110 million in 2025, thanks in particular to the NFE project, which represents the first phase of the LNG expansion.
Major projects for 2022 almost completed
Qatar has invested nearly 75 billion dollars in the construction of new infrastructures, for the preparation of the World Cup, but also in a more perennial way to boost its economy through tourism (rather business oriented) and to open the country to the world in a soft power way, like other Gulf countries today, mainly the United Arab Emirates. Qatar has a new metro, 4 lines in one go! Oryx Express is a rail network of more than 300 km, consisting of four lines serving 98 stations and notably all the sites of the World Cup in 2022.
Doha is now equipped with a brand new airport of 500,000m2 that can accommodate 24 million passengers per year, with a hotel, a metro line directly connected to the city center. The Barwa Financial Center near the Corniche in the center of the city is designed to house financial and investment institutions and banks. Money!
One of the most impressive projects is the creation from scratch of the new Msheireb Downtown district: an old district that was razed and rebuilt as a 31-hectare eco-district in order to give a soul back to the heart of the city next to the Souq Waqif. Here, the water of the spring that originally flowed is everywhere in the streets and the many gardens. Human-sized buildings reminiscent of traditional desert architecture have been favored, in contrast to the other American-style skyscraper neighborhoods in the city. Cost of the project: 20 billion riyals (4.2 billion euros)
Another huge project is the new Lusail city, also connected to the metro in the north of Doha, as an extension of The Pearl. This project includes a new "smart city" which, once inhabited and completed, should attract 100,000 visitors with its shops, avenues and marinas
The Pearl, an artificial island that - like Gaudi's Sagrada Familia - is never finished, still has cranes dancing in its skyline, while its yacht-lined "croisette" is home to the new Saint Regis Hotel, opened for the 2022 World Cup. Another artificial island, Gewan Island, this time with luxury villas, but above all a huge amusement park and water sports activities, should be built in the coming years.
Objective: to succeed in the World Cup
The Qatari monarchy is also passionate about football - it has bought the PSG, part of the rights of the French championship and its broadcasts and in 2022, the FIFA World Cup of the discipline. For the first time in the history of the soccer World Cup, the competition is organized in a Middle Eastern country, in a small, Arab and Muslim country. The Qatari bid first attracted four ambassadors: Zinedine Zidane, Pep Guardiola, Roger Milla and Sir Alex Ferguson, and then the FIFA executive committee. Qatar proposed state-of-the-art stadiums with solar-powered air conditioning to maintain a constant temperature of 27 degrees, and postponed the World Cup from June to November to avoid the scorching temperatures. The matches will be played in sites that are fairly close to each other, within a 50-kilometer radius, connected by a metro. Qatar will be well ahead of the game, offering 80,000 additional hotel rooms for the event. This is relatively large for the country and not very large for a World Cup. The country is betting on this sector and investing heavily. Hotels are being built in ever greater numbers and ever more luxuriously! The country wants to invest in tourism, more precisely the MICE market, that is to say business travel.
