Gas-rich but conservative Qatar may be maligned by some as a johnny-come-lately to the football scene, but Doha's successful bid to host the World Cup in 2022 has transformed the emirate into a promised land for contractors.
Official estimates put the planned spending on infrastructure, hotels and 12 eco-friendly stadiums at about $55bn. Shuaa Capital, a regional investment bank, estimates that the final cost of the month-long sporting festival could be as much as $86.5bn.
Much of the forecast expenditure is made up of existing long-term projects that will now be accelerated, but it will nonetheless provide a welcome fillip to the region's construction sector.
"A lot of construction companies have probably been partying ever since the announcement," says a Dubai-based investment banker.
Shares in regional builders such as Arabtec and Drake and Scull in Dubai, and Orascom Construction Industries in Egypt have rallied sharply since Qatar won the World Cup bid. Regional steel and cement companies have also jumped, with Qatar National Cement Company soaring almost 40 per cent.
Global construction groups, particularly those with local operations, are also set to win their share of contracts, analysts say.
Hochtief is likely to be a prime beneficiary. The German construction group is working on a large residential real estate project in Doha and last week sold 9 per cent of itself to Qatar Holding, an arm of the sovereign wealth fund.
UK building groups, which have been badly scarred by the collapse of the Dubai construction boom, are also well-placed, according to analysts.
"Those firms that had the confidence to move into Qatar several years ago will be the first to secure the work," says Lance Taylor, chief executive to Rider Levett Bucknall, a construction consultancy.
Banks are also likely to see a windfall. Though Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, holds an estimated $85bn-$100bn, analysts expect to see much of the construction funded by bank lending and bonds.
"Corporate lending activities of all Qatari banks are expected to benefit from peripheral activities related to these large projects, including the funding of smaller projects, contracting, and subcontracting," says Moody's, the rating agency.
International banks and law firms will also gain from a resurgence of bond issues in Qatar, according to one lawyer. "The World Cup is going to transform Doha, and they will now require a lot more financing to be arranged," he says.
Some analysts urge caution, however, pointing out that the World Cup is 12 years away. Shuaa analysts say many contracts are unlikely to be awarded before 2015, when preparation is expected to kick off. The stadium-related contracts in particular are unlikely to be awarded until after 2015.
John Barrow, a senior principal at Populous, an architecture practice specialising in stadium design, says it makes no sense to prepare designs too quickly. "It is 12 years away and the pace of technology, especially around sustainability, is so fast that it might make sense to hold off for a bit," Mr Barrow says.
Still, Qatar's spending on World Cup-related infrastructure projects will offset an impending slowdown in gas industry investments, and keep the country's economic output expanding at an annual 8-13 per cent in the near future, according to Monica Malik, chief economist at EFG-Hermes, a regional investment bank.
Roy Cherry, analyst at Shuaa, says: "With almost $100bn in planned investments over the next 12 years, this geographically tiny country packs a lot of punch, making it the biggest construction site on earth in dollars per square metre."
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