The future and challenges of Infrastructure and Transport in Qatar was the subject of a seminar organized yesterday (Tuesday) by the Qatar Road Safety Studies Center (QRSSC) at Qatar University’s College of Engineering, in collaboration with the Central Planning Office (CPO) in the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, Qatar is Booming reported.. The seminar at Qatar University, attended by industry experts, QU faculty and students, outlined the latest information from key organizations including the CPO, public works authority Ashghal and Qatar Rail, which are responsible for delivering the country’s future transport and infrastructure plans. They highlighted how students particularly could actively participate in the country’s development. Opening the seminar, Director of the Qatar Road Safety Studies Center Dr Khalifa Bin Nasser Al Khalifa said: “We are pleased to collaborate with the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning’s Central Planning Office on this seminar. Qatar is an exciting place to be at the moment as it provides valuable opportunities for development that very few countries in the world could offer. This seminar highlights the strong partnerships between QU and public and private institutions in Qatar as the state undergoes significant growth. These provide our students with excellent opportunities, as future engineers, to be part of this.” College of Engineering Dean Dr Rashid Al-Ammari said: “In a city developing as fast as Doha, there will be challenges. One of the main ones is developing in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 while still keeping traditions. We particularly welcome the involvement of our students, who will be the ones responsible for solving these challenges in the future.” Director of the Central Planning Office at the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning Jamal Shareeda Al Kaabi said: “The Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning’s Central Planning Office is honored to collaborate with the Qatar Road Safety Studies centre (QRSSC) in Qatar University’s Faculty of Engineering. This seminar will hopefully be the first of many more collaborations we will work on in the future which will further strengthen our relationship with the University in general and the QRSSC in particular. “We are pleased to be present today with other key stakeholders including Ashghal and Qatar Rail with whom we have been working hand-in-hand to facilitate cross-agency collaboration, one that has constantly proven to be extremely effective. A lot of effort is going into ensuring that the state’s planned world class transport and infrastructure developments are delivered and ready in time for the FIFA World Cup in 2022. We hope we have given the students a chance to see how they, the future generation of Qatar’s engineers, can bring change to the country they live in and have a key role in its development.” The seminar included a presentation from the Central Planning Office highlighting its role in putting in place a world-class transport system for Qatar which meets the requirements of the 2030 Qatar National Vision while delivering the important interim milestone of the FIFA World Cup in 2022. CPO Director of Planning and Engineering Ruari Maybank focused on three areas: How the State of Qatar is approaching the task of designing and building an integrated transport network, how the traffic in Qatar will be managed and the benefits that integrated transport infrastructure will bring. Daniel Leckel, Chief Technical Officer at Qatar Rail, took the students through the plans to provide Qatar with integrated railway services that are reliable, attractive, and safe with continual commitment to excellence, and sustainability. New transport choices for Qatar’s increasing population include the Doha Metro, with the first phase planned to be completed by 2019 and the light rail transit which is expected to be completed by 2017. In total, the rail projects have a budget of $40billion.