Building a future

In 15 minutes with Ibrahim Jaidah, Managing Director of Qatar's Arab Engineering Bureau, Jeff Roberts learns about psychology, Ali Baba and camels in the North Pole.

We keep hearing how Qatar continues to develop quite rapidly. Given the economic climate, is this an accurate statement?

Development in Qatar is very interesting. Despite the economic crisis that is happening around the globe, Qatar has sustained impressively.

Whether you're talking about the projects or the psychological aspect, Qatar has responded very well to the crisis. We haven't heard much about any projects stopping completely. Once in a while we hear that projects may have been pushed to other sites or been renegotiated but, for the most part, it's business as usual here. As far as things at AEB, we've been signing contracts and moving forward.

Psychological aspect?

Not just in the Gulf but across the world, the psychological effect of the financial crisis has had a very negative impact. This has slowed down construction, halted projects and created chaos in the market.

The government of Qatar has handled this very carefully. It is trying to reassure people that things will be ok. It has just announced the budget for this fiscal year and it's larger than in previous years. They're discussing new projects and awarding contracts at a steady rate. All of that helps to instil confidence in the private sector.

In your opinion, what makes Qatar different in this respect?

A few years ago, we used to complain that there wasn't as much development in Qatar as in other places around the region, it was a steady growth then and it continues to be so today. The difference here is that it's healthy growth-the projects aren't over-leveraged; it's all realistic; it's all solid money. That's why it's sustaining.

AEB, for example, has been designing some huge jobs recently-things that are around US $200 million and above. And, after whatever happened with the world economy happened, I assumed the clients would tell me to wait or postpone the project. Instead, they're pushing us to turn the designs around faster because they know they're going to get the best deals. And, that only reflects that it's solid, genuine money that is available.

Can you give any specifics about what AEB is working on?

In terms of hospitality, we just finished the Al Sharq Hotel, which is a Ritz-Carlton resort. With that project we won the Arab Cities Award. We also just finished the Al Fardan Twin Towers, which consist of luxury retail and very high-end residences. We are very close to finishing the Al Fardan Residences as well. That is a 62-storey residential tower that comprises even more high-end residential space. Al Fardan will be announcing the operator of this tower very soon. All I can say is that it is a very well-known, very fancy operator.

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM