by Raynald Rivera
Qatar-based companies are reaping the benefits of Project Qatar’s global reach. Hundreds of million dollars of contracts for the construction technology, materials and equipments are expected to be signed in the exhibition.
“Project Qatar this year is much better than the previous editions not only in terms of exhibition space but the number of companies and countries participating,” Harish Vaswani, Manager-Projects, HBK Contracting, told The Peninsula. HBK Holding has been involved in the event since its start eight years ago, but this is the first time they are sponsoring it.
“We are getting lots of proposals and we are working on them. We hope this event would lead to more projects for our company,” said Vaswani, adding HBK has played a big role in the nation’s progress since it opened 40 years ago.
“The exhibition makes us compete against international companies since it provides a high degree of exposure that would have taken us 20 years to achieve had we promoted ourselves on our own or thorough other events,” R Vedhachalam, Chief Technical Officer of HBK Contracting said.
Sudhir V Attingal, Business Development Manager of Khalifa Steel Industries, is of the same view saying: “The response from the first day was very good. It has increased dramatically compared the previous years. Looking at the long product list and the big companies present, it is no doubt this will be very successful.”
“Project Qatar is a good venue to present our company. Since yesterday, we have received a good number of inquiries expressing a lot of interest for our products perhaps because of their high quality and competitive prices,” said Eng Islam Saddiq, General Manager, Convert Engineering and Trading.
Having opened only last year, Convert Engineering and Trading which deals with construction and building materials, is participating at the exhibition for the first time. Saddiq said the inquiries came not only locally but from GCC and European countries.
There are a total of 30 countries with national pavilions in the exhibition, the largest of which is the United Arab Emirates with 167 exhibitors. It was followed by Germany with 98 exhibitors, Turkey (91), italy (70), China (59), Saudi Arabia (37), Jordan (36), France (23), Kuwait (23) and Iran (21).
Organisers said the event also contributed to the tourism sector with a total of 7,000 nights booked in hotels for exhibitors and 8,000 nights for visitors. The number of flight tickets has reached 4,500, most of which through Qatar Airways.
Thousands of trade visitors came in droves to witness the wide array of display of services and products displayed by the exhibitors. Some of the exhibitors went to the extent of displaying equipment outside the exhibition centre to showcase how far they had gone in their contribution to the modern Qatar infrastructure and buildings industry.
Taking place alongside Project Qatar 2011 is Heavy Max - the international trade exhibition for heavy machinery, technology and equipment for Qatar and the Gulf region. Heavy Max is the region’s leading show for construction plants, machinery, equipment and vehicles.
Project Qatar 2011 has received the unprecedented backing of the international community. Sponsors for Project Qatar 2011 include Orwood (Diamond Sponsor), Naffco (Gold Sponsor), HBK Holdings (Silver Sponsor) and Abu Issa Holdings.
The Peninsula
Thousands of visitors thronged the venue of Project Qatar 2011 to witness the wide array of display of services and products displayed by the exhibitors. In all, 1,700 exhibitors from nearly 50 countries are making their presence felt under one roof at the Doha Exhibition Center.
The organisers are expecting more than 40,000 trade visitors to attend the event, making it the largest edition of the show to date. The event ends tomorrow.
Project Qatar 2011 has received the unprecedented backing of the international community with 16 supporting bodies from construction heavyweights with representatives from the UK, France, Korea, Spain and Australia.
Though Qatar was already carrying out infrastructure work before winning the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the intensive building activity that lies ahead over the next decade is set to transform the country.
Qatar witnessed substantial changes during 2010, including winning the bid host the FIFA World Cup in 2022, implementing a green building code, and many other initiatives and projects related to sustainable development and green technologies.
This upsurge in interest has helped the organisers to draw in nine new countries to the event, including Slovakia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Morocco, Romania, Russia, Tunisia and South Africa, all of are making their debut this year.
To cope with the growing scale of the event, Michele Gebreal, Project Manager, Project Qatar 2011, said they would stage two editions of Project Qatar next year.
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