DOHA – Qatar is the favorite destination for Turkish construction firms lately. Seven Turkish firms bid on $50 billion Doha Metro contracts in August 2012. Yüksel Construction won one of the bids in this giant project.

The Turkish company is included in an international consortium that comprises Archirodon (Greece) and Petroserv (Qatar). The consortium said on Tuesday it has been awarded a 506 million euro ($700 million) contract to build a section of the Doha Metro Red Line. The execution period is 31 months, and the project will create more than 1,000 jobs, the consortium said in a statement. The metro is due for completion in 2019. In the bidding process, the FCC-led consortium competed with groups from Korea, Germany, Italy and India, among other countries, it added.

The contract includes building three elevated stations (Barwa Village, Al Wakrah and Qatar Economic Zone) and a 6.97-kilometer section, plus creating a tunnel at the entrance to Al Wakrah. Doha Metro's four lines will connect major sites in the city, including Education City, West Bay, Lusail, the Hamad Bin Khalifa International Airport and the QNCC.

This project comes just six months after FCC obtained the largest international contract in its history - the construction of three lines of the Riyadh Metro, for over 6 billion euro.

The metro construction contract in Doha is FCC's largest project in Qatar to date. The group is currently building two pedestrian walkways in the new city of Lusail and is completing the second phase of the Barzan camp residential area in Al Wajba, 15 kilometers from the capital city. Other international metro projects executed by FCC include the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE) in Canada, and section 1 of the Bucharest Metro line 5 in Romania. In Spain, the company is currently building the metro in Malaga and line 9 of the Barcelona Metro.

The Doha Metro contract will be the seventh project that Yüksel will start according to the company. "It is one of the important parts of the Qatar Rail program. The project also includes a five-kilometer-long viaduct, a 0.4-kilometer-grade crossing, building a kilometer long underpass and leveling a 1-million- square-meter depot space. The metro line will be built along the busiest streets in Doha and Al Wakra," the company said in a statement The Doha Metro is a rapid transit system under construction in Doha, the capital of Qatar, as well as some of its neighboring municipalities. Upon completion, it is expected to have 211.9 kilometers (132 miles) of track across four lines and 85 stations and will be an integral component of the larger Qatar Rail network, which will include a long-distance high-speed rail across Qatar and a local people mover services within Doha. Construction of the Doha Metro officially began with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the Msheireb station, which will act as the hub for not only the Metro but also the entire Qatar Rail network. The Doha Metro will ultimately consist of four lines, opening in phases beginning in 2019 with an eventual completion date of 2026. The Red, Green and Gold Lines will radiate out from a central interchange at Msheireb in Downtown Doha, with the Blue Line providing a semi-orbital service.

On the other hand, developers in Qatar could face jail or hefty fines if they fail to meet handover deadlines for new units or sell sub-standard projects under tough new laws to regulate the state's booming real estate sector, it was reported. According to the new laws issued by Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Tuesday, the penalties - up to one year in jail and a maximum QR50,000 ($13,732) fine or both - will also apply to anyone who sells real estate units showing fake designs or who receives loans without approval from authorities, the Peninsula Qatar newspaper reported. However, the fine will increase to a maximum QR200,000 ($54,928) for developers who fail to start a project within six months of receiving approval and do not provide adequate reasons. Developers, which have to register the units with the Ministry of Justice, could even lose their licenses.