Doha, Qatar: The country’s construction sector shows upbeat signs of growing significantly between 2023 and 2030, as per a recent Qatar Market Intelligence Autumn Q3 report by Turner & Townsend.

The data states that the market is expected to grow by 9.5 percent by the end of this decade, despite witnessing a slowdown in key project development post-FIFA 2022.

However, according to a new Verified Market Research analysis, the industry will more than double to $123.1bn by 2030, from $53.3bn in 2018. The market is anticipated to recover from the next 12-month slump as the country persists in investing in a diverse range of infrastructure and industrial projects, aiming to meet the numerous pillars of QNV 2030.

The report outlined that Qatar places itself as an international sports hub with a series of secured events, like the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup, in addition to bidding for the 2030 Asian Games and a potential 2036 Olympic bid.

“This direction looks to capitalize on the infrastructure and knowledge acquired during the World Cup 2022 event,” it said.

The data, however, indicates prominent challenges for the industry despite a forecast for growth.

Some of them include rising costs of construction, excessive lead times, and skilled labor shortages.

It stated that “A solution might be found in digital construction to build more effectively and of higher quality. The global construction sector has consistently underinvested in technology when it comes to IT spending, only 1.2 percent of its income is devoted to IT, compared to a 3.5 percent industry average.”

Albeit the rise of construction market, digitalization provides a tremendous opportunity to address these issues, which also capitalize on them. Industry sources state that some of the construction companies have fully adopted and digitized their processes outside of a few major projects.

“The Qatar construction sector can become more digitalized to boost efficiency and better manage risks, with so many lessons learned from the World Cup’s construction,” the report highlighted.

In spite of several hurdles that were encountered during the mega sporting event, the market and its stakeholders have proved to be resilient when confronted with inflexible contractors, high inflation rates in the past, accentuates that “In order to become more effective, preserve project budgets, and adhere to deadlines, the Qatar construction sector will need to develop access to better data, information, and toolkits to reduce risk and build resilience measures.”

This year, however, the sector realigned with the government’s National Vision 2030 targeting for transport and culture.

Looking ahead to 2030, industry experts noted that the current underway activities across the Middle East, particularly in the Saudi Arabian construction market, will see Qatar compete for labor and resources and this could potentially lead to an impact construction cost escalation.

Turner & Townsend’s recent international construction market survey states that at present, Doha is the most expensive location to build in the region, with an average cost of US$2,588 per sqm.

It further adds that “As the market changes in 2023, the sector is witnessing challenges related to the availability of professional services, the workforce, and contractor capability against the backdrop of the current and forecasted expenditure in the region.”