Ashghal Signs Six New Health Projects with a Total Cost of Nearly QR 1 Billion

Doha, September 02 (QNA) - Public Works Authority 'Ashghal' signed contracts for building six new health projects, in line with the directives of the wise leadership and part of achieving the Qatar National Vision 2030, as well as the authority's strategy to provide integrated infrastructure and public facilities, serving all sectors of the State, especially the health sector. The contracts were signed by President of Ashghal HE Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmad Al Muhannadi, contractors and representatives from the development companies. The new projects include five new health centers, namely Al-Khor Health Centre, Al-Wakra South Health Centre, Al-Sadd Health Centre, Al-Mashaf Health Centre, and Ain Khalid Health Centre, which will serve around 3,500 visitors per day. This is in addition to constructing the National Health Laboratories building, bringing the total value of the six projects to approximately QR 1 billion. On this occasion, President of the Public Works Authority HE Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmad Al Muhannadi thanked HE Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani for his unlimited support and for providing budgets for the new projects, as well as overcoming all obstacles that face infrastructure projects that serve both citizens and residents. HE Al Muhannadi expressed his pride that all contractors who have been awarded the new contracts are local contractors, noting that Ashghal encourages local and national companies to implement their projects in line with the directives of the wise leadership. HE Al Muhannadi pointed out that during the last five years, Ashghal implemented double the number of health centers that were implemented in the past. He added that there are four other health centers under design Madinat Khalifa South, Umm Ghuwailina, Al-Thamid and Nuaija. Implementation of these centers will commence in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health. For his part, General Manager Assistant for Administration and Financial Affairs in the Primary Health Care Corporation Dr. Musallam Al-Nabit highlighted the support of the wise leadership to the health sector and expressed his gratitude for Ashghal to carry out these important health projects, and for its continuous support and fruitful cooperation during the past years and during this year. He highlighted that two health centers were opened this year, and two other health centers will be opened before the end of the year. This is in addition to the new projects, which include five health centers throughout the country, especially in the external areas such as Al-Mashaf and Al-Wakra South and Al-Khor. A number of contractors expressed their appreciation to the Public Works Authority, noting that the authority has made every effort to provide support to local companies and to overcome the obstacles facing them, and for supporting national companies and qualifying them to implement the largest infrastructure projects in the country and compete for the largest development projects inside and outside Qatar. . During the press conference, information was given on the services provided by the new health projects, their facilities, costs, duration of implementation and the number of clients, noting that the new A; Sadd Health Center is about 50 percent bigger, in terms of capacity, than the average of other health centers. It is worth mentioning that all criteria were also set by Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) since operational and architectural considerations were taken to accomplish a 3-star environmental level in terms of energy saving and environment preservation, including using solar energy for the purpose of in-house water heating; using natural sunlight through panoramic roof windows, allowing sun light in to save a quite bit of electricity which is used in lights and to disinfect the place; rational consumption of water inside and outside the building; growing green areas and landscapes around the facility and preserving the environment around during the implementation of the project. Ashghal has been granted two Sustainability Awards (2016) in health and education facilities by the Gulf Organization for Research and Development "GORD", the first performance-based system in the MENA region. Over the past year, GORD examined the designs of building projects educational and health buildings - and conducted site visits to Ashghals projects to verify that the projects match GSAS standards. Ashghal Building Affairs is much occupied with health projects in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health. Thus, the Primary Health Care sector has witnessed recently a boom since it opened unique and distinct health centre, where it has unprecedented services and spaces in Qatar to accommodate huge numbers of visitors and offer much improved medical care. During the period from 2004 until now, Ashghal has implemented 24 health facilities, including 9 hospitals and 14 health centers, in addition to a health simulation center. (QNA)