Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company

Well, well, well, I never thought I would live to see the day when a railway network would come to Doha…

If these artist’s impressions are anything to go by, then Qatar is going to have a rollicking railway network soon. I have been to metro and other railway networks around the world. And these pictures (if it indeed gets made this way) make me feel that they are the best I have seen so far.

Qatar and Deutsche Bahn ‘in $25bn deal’
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn is set to sign a $25bn contract with Qatar tomorrow

Qatar is set to award a $25bn contract to German rail and logistics group Deutsche Bahn tomorrow to build and operate a passenger and freight rail network in the country.
A source said the deal would see the launch of the Qatar Railway Development Company, a joint corporation in which Qatar Railways is expected to hold 51% and Deutsche Bahn 49%.
German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer yesterday said in Berlin that he would travel to Doha together with Deutsche Bahn chief executive Ruediger Grube to sign the deal.

The United States has agreed to sell its embassy building in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, to Qatari Diar, the sovereign wealth-backed developer, for an undisclosed sum.

The US State Department said that it will sell the Chancery building, home to the US Embassy in Britain for almost half a century, to the property investment company owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

The building was worth an estimated £500 million at the peak of the market in July 2007 when Qatari Diar was first linked with a possible purchase. However, the building is now thought to be worth less after a 45 per cent decline in commercial property values.

GULF TIMES DTD:29.10.09
Barwa Bank has made a soft launch with it participating in Qatari Diar’s loan syndication and inching closer to acquire First Finance Company (FFC).
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The main branch, located at Doha’s Grand Hamad Street, will have both gents and ladies branches and offer current, savings and fixed deposit accounts with a view to rolling out a range of innovative banking products and services in the coming months, said its spokesman.
Customers can currently access bank services via ATM, mobile phone banking, e-banking and 24 hour customer call centre.
Established with an authorised capital of QAR1bn, Barwa Bank is licensed and regulated by the Qatar Central Bank and is a fully owned subsidiary of Barwa Real Estate Company.

Vodafone to launch fixed line phone service next year
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Vodafone Qatar will launch its fixed line services next year. The telecommunications company yesterday said it was in talks with major developers here to be their exclusive fixed line provider once its licence application was approved.

Michael Portz, Chief Marketing Officer of Vodafone Qatar, said, however, that it still hadn’t been decided whether the fixed line services will start early or late next year.

Portz said Vodafone Qatar was in talks with some of the country’s leading real estate developers, including Qatari Diar and the United Development Company (UDC), to be the exclusive fixed line provider in their projects.

Qatar is preparing to tender construction work on one of the five rail networks it plans to build over the next 10 years, MEED has reported.
The New Doha International Airport Steering Committee has invited companies to pre-qualify for a contract to build a train station at the $11bn airport that is under construction close to Doha’s existing one.
UK-based Mace International is the project manager for the scheme, known as the Passenger Rail Station Box. The project involves building a railway station terminal for an express airport rail line that will connect to rail and metro stations in downtown Doha and other rail networks.
Sources familiar with the project say the steering committee wants to finish the station in time for the opening of the first Phase of the airport in 2011.

Plans for the Doha Metro Network have been presented to the Qatar Government and are currently under consideration.

The contract could be awarded by the end of this year, a consultant working on the project said. The plans form one “cluster” of a wider consolidated national railway network.

The wider network is designed to integrate five railway systems planned across Qatar into a “comprehensive and consolidated national railway system.”

It was prepared by DB International, the international wing of German railway company Deutsche Bahn, and local state-owned firm Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company.