MEDCO (Middle East Dredging Company Q.S.C.) has been awarded a contract to dredge the approach channel for the ‘New Port Project’ in Qatar for the account of the New Port Project Steering Committee, under the Government of the State of Qatar.
The contract also includes the dredging of the basin as well as the land reclamation for the Naval Base of approximately 4.5 square km and the construction of the two outer breakwaters at both sides of the Channel. The New Port is located between Al Wakrah and Mesaeed, South of Doha. The contract represents a value of about 4,500,000,000 QAR (941,000,000 EUR).
The 27 billion Qatari Riyal project, as a major gateway to Qatar, includes the construction of a New Port to serve future developments and expand trade needs of Qatar for 2030 and beyond. It will cater for the expected growth in container traffic; it shall also accommodate for general cargo traffic, vehicle imports, livestock imports, bulk grain imports, offshore support vessels, cruise vessels, coastguard vessels and a marine support unit. A new Base for the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces will be built offshore of the New Port, providing berthing for Qatar’s Navy and visiting naval vessels from around the world.
The New Port will be developed in several phases to include three container terminals with a combined annual capacity in excess of six million containers per year and a railway station connected to the GCC Railway Network, thus connecting the New Port to neighboring countries and opening horizons to serve the joint market of the Gulf States.
The works of MEDCO include the dredging of a 20km long access channel and a Naval Base basin, the land reclamation with dredged materials for an area of approximately 4.5 square km for the construction of the Naval Base, including compaction and ground improvement, the construction of rubble mound outer breakwaters at each side of the channel, the construction of rock revetment at the perimeter of the Naval Base, the supply and installation of navigation aids and environment mitigation (re-location of coral, sea grass, mangrove that would be affected by the works). The works includes the dredging of approximately 45 million m³ of mainly hard rock materials. The project has undergone a rigorous and thorough environmental assessment and the strict environmental conditions resulting from these studies will have to be strictly adhered to by all actors on the Project in order to mitigate to the largest extend the environmental impacts created by the construction of the Project.
MEDCO will deploy its self-propelled flag ship “Al Jarraf” recently constructed and delivered in Singapore. In addition, two self-propelled seagoing rock cutter suction dredgers will be deployed to execute this major assignment.
The works will start in March 2012 and will be completed early 2016.
MEDCO is a partnership between the Qatari company United Development Company (UDC, 45.1%), Qatar Holding (Government of Qatar, 10%) and DEME (44.1%).
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Dredging Today Staff, March 18, 2012; Image: deme