H.E. Salah Bin Ghanem Nasser Al Ali

Although Qatar’s Barwa Real Estate has been struggling with debt, the company remains one of the Middle East’s biggest property development firms, with a market capitalisation of $4.2bn. Last June, sovereign wealth fund Qatari Diar, which owns a 45% stake in the firm, said that it would buy $7.1bn worth of Barwa’s assets. Following the announcement, in July, H.E. Salah Bin Ghanem Nasser Al Ali, also Minister of Youth and Sports, was appointed group chairman.

At Cityscape Qatar earlier this month. the company announced the launch of sales at its Dara scheme in the Fox Hills area of Lusail City, which contains 56 buildings with more than 1,000 apartments. The project sold out during the three-day event.

It also signed a contract with Egyptian firm CRC Dorra to build the second phase of its huge Barwa Al Baraha project, which is set to deliver 32 new four-storey buildings that will house up to 24,000 workers. This will bring the total number of homes for workers at the site to 53,000.

However, the company has shelved plans for the $5.5bn Oryx Island project announced last year, which was meant to contain five floating hotels, a water park and exclusive luxury villas with their own private beaches.