Qatar's public works authority Ashghal said work was progressing well on the Bani Hajer North – Rawdat Egdaim Road Infrastructure Development scheme with its first and seventh packages fully completed.

The project is aimed at providing integrated infrastructure and roads network linking Bani Hajer to Doha, Dukhan and the rest of the country through the expressway network. The road network will reduce travel time in Bani Hajer area by 60 per cent, in addition to providing a direct access to the Mall of Qatar.

These improvements will ease the access to all residential and business establishments in the area as well as a number of schools and mosques. Also as part of this package, the western section of Al-Terhab Street was widened to connect Bani Hajer area with the Celebrations Road and the Mall of Qatar.

Package One of the project serves 663 residential plots in an area of 1.62 sq km, where wide-scale improvements have been carried out to the roads network running 28 km long and 30 m wide, in addition to providing signal-controlled intersections, said a top official.

Ali Ashkanani, the head of Northern Areas Section in the Roads Projects Department, pointed out that Package One provides a permanent solution for sewage overflow problem and allows the elimination of use of sewage tanks by providing a new drainage network, to which all houses within this package were connected.

The Package Seven serves 520 residential plots in an area of 1.35 sq km, through the construction of 21 km of local roads using the latest standards and specifications to replace the temporary roads in the area. The project also provided telecommunications lines and about 40 electrical substations.

To enhance traffic safety in the area, many signboards and speed humps were installed as part of Packages One and Seven, in addition to installing 1,937 light poles, building 7,100 car parking bays, and providing 94 km of shared pedestrians and cyclist lanes to encourage residents to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Ashkanani said Package Seven aims to provide a solution to these problems after connecting the main trunk sewers to outfalls under future projects that Ashghal is currently implementing.

Both packages included extensive infrastructure development works according to the highest standards, including the construction of a 69-km-long storm water and ground water drainage network to solve the rainwater accumulation problem, and the construction of a 50-km-long foul sewer drainage network.

Additionally, both packages included constructing about 26-km-long treated sewage effluent network, he added.-TradeArabia News Service