Qatar's $2.6bn Energy City set to complete in 2012

11. February. 2010

Qatar's Energy City (ECQ), a $2.6 billion development aimed at attracting international energy companies, is set to be completed in 2012 following some delays amid the global slowdown last year.

ECQ CEO Hesham al Emadi said that most of the tenants are likely to move into the facility in the next two years.

“There were some delays last year because of the economic downturn and rising cost of raw materials, but we are confident that the ECQ would be completed by 2012,” Emadi said in comments published by Qatar Tribune on Thursday.
 
Emadi added that about 60 percent of the project would be completed by the end of next year.
 
Energy City is part of a new city that is being developed by Qatari Diar, the property wing of the country's sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.

Qatar, the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is spending billions of dollars on real estate projects as part of plans to curb reliance on oil and gas income, which contributes 60 percent of gross domestic product and 66 percent of state revenues.

“The infrastructure work will be finalised by the end of this year,” he told the paper, adding that a total of up to 20,000 workers would be employed in ECQ once it was completed.
[ArabianBusiness] by: Andrew Sambidge.