Preparations are underway for building a 95km eight-lane expressway connecting Doha with the Saudi Arabian border at Abu Samra, meeting the “highest international highway standards,” reported the Gulf Times newspaper on Sunday.
“The project, which will involve upgrading and reconstructing Salwa Road, will have shoulders, collector roads and up to six interchanges,” Lt Col Mohamed Abdullah Al Malki, head of planning, safety and radars at the Traffic Department, told the paper.
The Salwa International Highway Project is part of the ambitious Qatar Primary Routes (QPR) project, which also includes the North Road and the Dukhan road.
The main projects division at the Qatari Municipal Affairs and Agriculture Ministry’s roads department has already invited international contractors specializing in the construction of major highways and bridges to apply for pre-qualification for the project, he said.
The first phase of the multi-million dollar project will link the Industrial Area roundabout with the Customs Office at Abu Samra at the Qatar-Saudi border, said Malki, who is a member of the special committee set up to liaise between the traffic department and the roads department.
Work on a new customs office building has already begun as also construction of an 8km link road from the office to the proposed highway.
Work on the first phase of the expressway is proposed to start by March next year, Malki revealed. The project is expected to take 30 months.
De Leuw Cather of the Parsons Transportation Group has been appointed consultants for the project, the first of its kind in Qatar.
The company, which has set up an office in Qatar, is collecting data on the traffic movement and related matters.
The second phase will involve work from the Industrial area roundabout up to the old Q-Tel junction, Malki said.
The expressway is currently on the design stage. Negotiations are currently underway by the liaison committee with the Kahramaa, Q-Tel, Qatar Petroleum and other government service departments, Malki said – Albawaba.com
