New Doha airport opening delayed till June
Doha, September 17, 2012
The opening of the first phase of Qatar's planned $11 billion new airport would be delayed until June next year after a contractor was dropped from the project, Qatar Airways chief executive has said.
The airport was originally due to open this December. Qatar hopes it will develop the country as a regional aviation hub.
"It is because we asked a contractor to demobilise, because they were falling behind the milestones. It was a unanimous decision by the committee building the airport to appoint another contractor," Akbar Al-Baker said.
In June Lindner Depa, an interior fitting joint venture between Dubai-based Depa Ltd and Germany's Lindner AG, had its 900 million UAE dirham ($245 million) contract to fit out the Doha International Airport terminated.
Al-Baker declined to give the name of the new contractor, but said it would be responsible for construction of all 18 airport lounges. The planned airport is to be opened in three phases and completed by 2015, with eventual capacity to accommodate 50 million passengers. - Reuters
