Latest News from Qatar

Shopaholics get ready! Qatar is going to get a new shopping mall that's a whopping 8km's long! That's right, 900,000m2 of glorious floor space. Thats the equivalent of 110 football fields.

The Barwa Commercial Avenue is going to cost US $1.7bn (over QR6bn) and is expected to finish mid 2012. The project will be built by German firm Hochtief Construction and will also include offices and residential space.

Just a week after tallg posted that Vodafone Qatar was having trouble keeping their masts up, ictQatar has revised the licensing terms to accommodate delays. Here are the details from ictQatar:

The Supreme Council for Information and Communication Technology, ictQATAR, today published revised License terms for the second mobile operator, Vodafone Qatar on April 5th, 2009. Under the terms of its license Vodafone Qatar was required to achieve 98% population coverage and launch full services by 1 March 2009. The revised terms require 98% coverage by 1 September 2009 and the launch of services, including two-way phone mobile and SMS, by 1 July 2009.

ictQATAR made the decision to amend the license due to unforeseen delays experienced by Vodafone Qatar such as acquiring sites for mobile base stations. To date, the company has switched on its network, achieved interconnection with Qtel, and has launched a trial service to establish the effectiveness of its network.

Announcing the revised license terms, Dr. Hessa Al-Jaber, ictQATAR Secretary General said ""Despite the fact that Vodafone Qatar has not met the initial target dates set out in its license, ictQATAR is satisfied with the progress that has been made on network development and interconnection with Qtel, and looks forward to the launch of competitive telecommunications service in Qatar in the near future"".

Following amending the license terms, ictQATAR has decided not to cash the performance bonds it holds against Vodafone Qatar's coverage obligations amounting to QAR 110million. ictQATAR will continue to hold these performance bonds as security to ensure the revised coverage obligations are met.

The complete amended license can be viewed on the ictQATAR website: http://www.ictqatar....

They've been here for quite some time, but this was the first time they were 'seen' in action. And boy, did they rock...

They played against the Kuwait national women's team and whipped them 52-15. I was totally taken aback about how well they performed.

They were professional, organised and ruthless. A few of the girls were plain simple awesome. The whole atmosphere was electric, what with the chants of a hundred female voices...

But the truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that women's basketball in Qatar is very much alive and kicking.

Way to go, ladies.

The architects behind the Dubai Towers in Doha, which will be Qatar's tallest building, are waiting for clarification over whether the project will be passed to a new master developer for completion, Arabian Business can reveal.

http://www.arabianbu...

Hello. Saw this in a sports magazine in Qatar. Very neat, I should say. And a great development too.

I have seen Khalfan play. He is good. He was Asia's best footballer in 2006. He's likely joining Brazil's Santos FC? That's indeed great news for football in Qatar.

WOW!

Bound for Brazil?

Star Qatari footballer Khalfan Ibrahim is likely to ply his trade at top Brazilian club Santos, writes N Ganesh.

WILL the Pearl of Qatar glitter in the land of Samba? If things progress as per plans, Al Sadd’s Qatar international Khalfan Ibrahim will don the colours of top Brazilian club Santos FC, where living legend Pele had spent much of his club career.
Santos are working on the chances, though they have found the player — arguably the best footballer presently in Qatar — a bit too pricey and hence have not made an official offer until now.

Builders in Qatar are taking advantage of the slowdown in Dubai to scoop up skilled staff that they have previously struggled to attract to the country.

Building, consultancy and engineering firms in Qatar have long struggled to attract key skills because of competition from Dubai, but now hope to take advantage of the redundancies that are sweeping across the emirate.

“There were issues about bringing people here in the past, such as housing and schools, that prevented us from growing,” said Robert Hope, a regional director at WS Atkins, an engineer and design consultancy.

“But I think there’s an opportunity for us now to get quality people in positions and move projects forward.”

Although not unaffected by the global financial crisis, Qatar’s economy is still expected to outperform regional economies this year and expand by 10 per cent, fuelled mainly by increased LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports.

Local banks are being more selective in the projects they finance, but the country is well-placed to fund crucial developments, especially those aimed at affordable housing.

Qatar’s current account surplus was worth about 52 per cent of GDP last year, according to Marios Maratheftis, CK regional head of research at Standard Chartered Bank.

by Angela Giuffrida

DUBAI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Qatar's government ordered two domestic real estate companies to merge on Monday, the latest in a series of mergers and acquisitions in the Gulf Arab region where firms are struggling to cope with the global turmoil.

Barwa Real Estate BRES.QA, an affiliate of state-owned Qatari Diar, and Qatar Real Estate Investment Co QREC.QA, in which the government owns a minority stake, said they were still in the early stages of examing terms and conditions of the merger.

Consolidation in the oil-exporting region has been on the rise since late last year as the financial crisis and an oil price slump ended an economic boom, forcing firms involved in everything from property to investment to search for ways to weather the downturn.

The Qatari real estate merger would be the fourth in the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas in three months, and follows a planned merger between two private investment companies in Kuwait on Sunday.

"The purpose will be to create a much bigger entity which can take the pressure due to the financial crisis," said Samer al-Jaouni, general manager of Middle East Financial Brokerage Co in Dubai. "Qatar is trying to take action before things get worse."

Al-Jaouni said that real estate prices in some areas under development in Qatar had fallen by 30 percent to 40 percent from their peak.

Just a quick update to my previous post on Qatar suspending ties with Israel. The AFP reports that:

DOHA (AFP) — Qatar ordered the closure of Israel's trade office in Doha over the Jewish state's war on Gaza, Qatar's official news agency reported on Sunday, citing a foreign ministry official.

"The ministry has summoned the head of Israel's trade office in Doha and gave him an official memorandum of Qatar's decision to close the bureau," the agency quoted the official as saying.

Qatar, previously the only Gulf Arab state with Israeli trade ties, said officials working at the Jewish state's trade office, open since 1996, have seven days to leave the country.

Qatar and Mauritania decided on Friday to "suspend" their relations with Israel at an Arab summit in Doha called to discuss the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, a Mauritanian diplomat told AFP.

I think it sends a clear message but will it make a difference?

Breaking news out of the Doha Summit on Gaza: Both Qatar and Mauritania have suspended ties with Israel over war in Gaza.

News agencies are reporting that there's been a fault at QatarGas 1, which has caused a halt in production. The plant usually produces 25,000 tons of liquid natural gas a day, one-third of Qatar's total output. A spokesman declined to say when the plant may be back in production. Does anyone here have any more details?

Source: Bloomberg

The Supreme Council for Information and Communication technology, ictQATAR, is holding a public consultation on its proposed licensing framework for the telecommunications sector in Qatar. This framework aims to increase the transparency of certain aspects of the licensing process, reduce barriers to entry through streamlined processes, promote technology neutrality, and align licensing processes with the Telecommunications Law no. (34) of 2006.

Doha made it to the list of New York Times' 44 places to go in 2009.

Ever since Dubai has reinvented itself as the region's Las Vegas, its wealthy gulf neighbors have been jockeying for the title of cultural capital But Doha is well ahead, especially with the opening of the Museum of Islamic Art and a raft of new contemporary galleries.

Cultural Destination of the Year - Doha, Qatar

Both the no. 1 and 2 tennis players won't be seen in this years Qatar Open final. Quarter finals matches were both worth watching though. Roddick won over Monfils, who defeated world no. 1 Nadal. And world no. 2 Federer was losing again to Murray.

I'm sure tomorrow's match will still bring excitement to all spectators amidst the absence of fan favorites.

I think Murray will be able to defend his title considering his performance last season and in this year's Qatar Open.