A file photo of officials during a sales launching press conference.
Doha: On the occasion of its third year anniversary, Qetaifan Projects, the company fully owned by Katara Hospitality and the exclusive real estate developer of Qetaifan Island North, said it succeeded in adapting to difficulties and transforming challenges into opportunities during the year 2020.
It also marks the second year anniversary of the start of construction on site, that has been witnessing a rapid development and progress ever since.
The development of Qetaifan Island North did not witness any deviation from the set schedule or any noticeable delays from the specified work plan, it noted.
These positive developments and successes happened despite the lockdown witnessed by the world last year in efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and the challenges that in turn affected various fields, perhaps most notably the tourism and travel sectors.
A committee was formed to develop a joint plan between the Operations and Technical Departments headed by H E Sheikh Nasser bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Managing Director and Deputy Chairman of Katara Hospitality, to manage the crisis and overcome it without affecting the company’s operation. This was done especially in light of the presence of more than 7,000 workers working around the clock on site under the supervision of six main contractors, where the number of working hours reached more than 6 million hours, to complete the first-phase projects packages; which include the hotel, the waterpark, the icon tower island, the salt canal, the retail plaza, the mosque and the beach club, in addition to the company’s employees and departments.
The most prominent priorities for crisis management were the physical and psychological health of the company’s employees, with a commitment to follow the precautionary measures set by the State’s Supreme Committee for Crisis Management and the Ministry of Public Health.
“Working within a successful organisation such as Katara Hospitality under the leadership of H E Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Katara Hospitality, puts more responsibility on us and requires more effort from our side. In other words, reaching the summit is difficult, but maintaining it is much more difficult.
“This requires from everyone to not only work as one team, but more than that, to work on establishing the team spirit as a principle and consider it as a starting point for understanding strengths and investing in them in the correct and timely manner, identifying weaknesses to avoid them, exploiting strengths to minimise the impact of weaknesses, and working in harmony and unity, each in his specialization as “one body” in the face of the crisis,” said H E Sheikh Nasser.
He expressed the main reason behind the success of Qetaifan Projects, which is the clarity of vision and the smooth transmission of it to the team and the resulting unification of thought. The essence of crisis management, as is the case in all state institutions that combined their efforts and harnessed their capabilities to pass through the crisis, taking into account preserving project schedules as much as possible and paying attention to the health and occupational safety of community members and work teams, especially in light of working on the preparations to host the 2022 World Cup, which will be hosted for the first time in an Arab country.
Hesham Sharaf, Chief Operating Officer, said, “Qetaifan Projects started in 2020 with many ambitions and pre-prepared plans to complete the achievements that began since the company’s establishment in January 2018, especially after Qetaifan Projects’ participation in Cityscape 2019, in which Qetaifan Island North development was launched and presented the first direct contact between the company and its customers, as Qetaifan Projects’ booth at the exhibition witnessed a great turnout of visitors interested to learn about the project and its elements, and the number of plot reservations reached four times the quantity offered, which resulted in selling out of Phase 1 residential villa plots.
“Perhaps the most prominent challenge in 2020 was the launch of Phase 2 villa plots, which witnessed the closures and all the precautionary measures that resulted from it, and accordingly, as per the plan devised to manage the crisis and take advantage of the lockdown and in conjunction with the strict precautionary measures set, Qetaifan Projects invested in its employees by providing a safe and healthy environment for them and their families.”
The year 2020 began with many ambitions due to the success witnessed during the previous year, many innovative marketing plans and ideas were developed to ensure the continuity of the series of achievements, and the COVID-19 pandemic did not stand as a barrier between Qetaifan Projects and its ambition to achieve more successes, as the demand on Phase 1 villa plots gave an indication of the high demand expected on the villa plots offered in Phase 2, especially after Qetaifan Projects postponed two payments to the owners of the first phase as a step within the plan to manage the pandemic crisis.
The second phase of plots included the launch of a new real estate product for the first time in the market, which is villas with access to an exclusive five-star operated beach. Despite the pandemic and following all precautionary measures, Qetaifan Projects’ efforts resulted in the selling out of the offered villa plots in Phase 2, and sales exceeding one billion riyals in one night, the sales auction night, which witnessed a greater demand for ownership in Qetaifan Island North.
Qetaifan Projects has concluded a number of global partnerships during 2020, perhaps the most prominent of which is the British company Sarner International Ltd to design and implement an edutainment ride in Qetaifan Island North’s waterpark, equipped with augmented reality technology and 3D visual effects on the discovery of oil and gas in Qatar to enrich the Qatari culture.
Qetaifan Projects has also signed with Severn Lamb to manufacture and install the Waterpark’s train, which will transport the waterpark visitors from the main island to the Icon Tower Island. Also, it established partnership with Interlink, a company specialising in the design, manufacture, and supply of a wide range of water rides.
Qetaifan Projects has also won the award for the best place to work in Qatar, to come in the third place in the Middle East, and sixth in the world after international companies, among its many awards.
