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$200m Qatari highway goes to Turkey’s Tekfen

Turkey’s Tekfen Holding has won a $200m contract to build a highway in eastern Qatar, bringing its total order book in the embattled emirate to $2.5bn.

Tekfen was awarded the work by the Qatari Public Works Directorate, the company said in a statement to Turkey’s Public Disclosure Platform on Tuesday, 1 August.

The project, which comprises 2.5km of highway with two viaducts, is to be completed over a 27-month period.

This road contract follows last year’s success in winning the $2.1bn Al Khor expressway (pictured), the largest contract in Tekfen’s history. The contractor undertook this 34km, 10-lane highway on a turnkey basis with a construction period of 36 months.

In February, the company also won another turnkey project to deliver the $342m, 40,000 seat Al Thumama Stadium for the 2022 World Cup finals. It is working on this as part of a joint venture with Qatar’s Al Jaber Engineering.

The stadium will be third large stadium project undertaken by Tekfen following the Istanbul Atatürk and Baku Olympic Stadiums.

Turkish companies are in favour in Qatar following Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s support for the Al Thani regime in its stand off with a coalition of Arab countries led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Following the imposition of a partial blockade of Qatar, Abdelaziz bin Ahmed al-Thani, a member of the Qatari ruling dynasty and the owner of one of the country’s largest property developers, announced that he will favour Turkish contractors in all future projects.

It is not clear whether Tekfen will have to forgo work in Saudi Arabia. It is presently working on a number of water and pipeline projects in the kingdom, including the $300m construction contract of a 333km jet fuel pipeline between Yanbu and Jeddah.

Last year, energy giant Saudi Aramco signed memorandums of understanding with 18 Turkish firms, which cleared the way for them to bid on future projects.

Tekfen entered the Qatari market in 2005, since when it has contracts worth a total of $5bn.

Image: A rendering of the Al Khor expressway, Tekfen’s largest-ever contract (Lusail)

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