Qatar – An Opportunity for Operation and Maintenance PPPs
By: Pawel Piotrowski and Hena Sial
According to MEED.com Qatar awarded projects worth over US$136 billion between 2011–2020. Over the last decade, the focus of Qatar’s investment has been on the development of infrastructure related to the FIFA World Cup to be hosted in 2022. This includes stadiums and ancillary infrastructure such as metro lines, an airport expansion, expressways, and hotels.
In light of the great investment made by Qatar and with much of this infrastructure already built and the rest well underway, it may be worth shifting focus to the future of such infrastructure. Some questions that may assist such inquiry include, what are the best means to utilize this infrastructure to its full potential and how to best fund and deliver long-term infrastructure improvements that may be required over the upcoming decades.
In this article we will consider:
- What are the benefits of using PPPs in the context of long-term O&M and infrastructure rehabilitation;
- How Qatar may utilize the existing legal framework for PPPs to ensure proper maintenance and rehabilitation of the state infrastructure; and
- How PPPs should be delivered in order to minimize the risk of potential failures.