By Satish Kanady
DOHA: Energy City Qatar (ECQ), the estimated $3bn project launched to create a hub of the region’s hydrocarbon companies in Qatar, has revised its original plan and is set to turn the entire project into a ‘mixed-use facility’.
It is some of the target energy companies’ reported lack of interest in bifurcating their corporate offices from their respective headquarters and the huge demand from non-hydrocarbon sector firms that have forced the ECQ to compromise with its original vision.
Talking to The Peninsula yesterday, ECQ CEO Hesham Al Emadi said: “We are investors and we look for the value of projects and investments. We saw a huge demand from the construction sector and we reconsidered our decision to go for both business and energy sectors rather than solely going for the latter. However, we will be hosting a few energy companies too”.
ECQ’s original vision was to create Middle East’s first energy business centre catering to commercial, technical and human resources needs of the oil, gas and hydrocarbon business .
It is anticipated that the occupants will be organisations primarily connected to the energy business, although it is likely that those companies involved in a secondary or tertiary role will also favour the location. All buildings are supposed to adhere to the building guidelines defined by ECQ.
Structures will be constructed at the highest standards complying with US Green Building Council LEED Certification requirements for energy efficiency.
According to the revised plans, the ECQ will be housing headquarters of at least 15 real estate companies, four leading IT companies, branches of many leading banks and insurance companies. The corporate offices of several big names will also be moving to the ECQ, he said.
The project work is fast progressing in keeping with the original schedule, despite the initial hitches.
“We have now finished the infrastructure phase and are focusing on the project development stage. We see a lot of development in the coming years. We have a target to complete the project in the next five years and be operational by 2018”, he said.
Hesham said the company might raise more capital if needed.
“We have already closed a $200m IPO last year. We were able to pay all our debts. We might go for another $100-$200m fund. We are coordinating with some local banks for structuring this loan”.
Launched in 2006, the project forms part of the major new city development, Lusail.
The ECQ project is divided into two phases. The first phase, ECQ1 will house corporate offices and other business related infrastructure while the second phase, ECQ2 will provide residential facilities to corporate members utilising the ECQ1 facilities.
ECQ1 will consist of 92 corporate buildings, able to house approximately 20,000 people. The plot extends over an area of approximately 721,584 square metre.
The Peninsula
