Barwa Real Estate, Qatari Diar and French water and energy company Suez plan to set up a multi-utilities joint venture, the firms said in a joint statement on Saturday.

They did not give the value of the firm's capital, but said it would focus on water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, and district cooling, among other activities.

Qatar is witnessing a boom in the real estate sector, buoyed by windfalls from a near six-fold surge in oil prices in the last six years.

Qatar is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, and its economy expanded 12.5 per cent at current prices last year.

The shares of Barwa, which operates according to Islamic law, have rallied 68.52 per cent this year to last week's close, outperforming the main index, which rose 27.45 per cent.-Reuters