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Tribune News Network
Doha
In the Middle East, Dubai and Doha are fast becoming smart cities with a significant uptick in the adoption of smart services and increase in infrastructure spending, a report by Expotrade, a Melbourne-based global conference and event organiser, has said.
Information and Communication technology (ICT) is considered the key enabler of smart city development in these cities, it added.
While the integration of technology to improve the citizen-oriented services and provide a more connected network is important, infrastructure also remains a key component in the development of smart cities, the report said.
Reports indicate that the worldwide infrastructure spending will grow to more than $9 trillion per year by 2025. As per the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS), Qatar's construction industry is a critical non-oil growth driver.
In the 2017 budget announced a few months agoby the Ministry of Finance, QR93.2 billion ($25.6billion) has been allocated for major projects in key areas such as health, education and transport, including QR46.1 billion ($12.7billion) on new projects divided between infrastructure and transportation programmes worth QR25 billion ($6.9billion), followed by FIFA World Cup 2022 projects estimated at QR8.5 billion ($2.3billion), and health and education programmes worth QR5.8 billion ($1.6billion).
With 1 million visitors expected to throng to Qatar for the World Cup 2022, there has been a surge in infrastructure spending across key segments such as transport, broadly encompassing rail, roads, airport and ports; utilities covering telecommunications, power generation and water; hospitals, real estate and stadiums.
With an estimated budget of $35billion-45billion, the Qatar Rail Development Programme is one of the most expensive infrastructure projects underway in the state.
Few years back, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) had announced that by the year 2022, the country would be investing$20billion-25billion in new tourism projects.
Recently, the Ministry of Finance in Qatar announced that the government is currently spending $500m a week on capital projects in preparation for its World Cup games in 2022 with more than $200 billion to be spent on stadiums.
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22/02/2017
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