By M V A Kumar
DOHA: The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) said yesterday that it will relocate to Msheireb Downtown Doha (MDD), serving as a foundation for Qatar’s new financial city.
New QFC firms will be able to operate from this designation starting mid-2017. Existing firms can decide to migrate then, or starting 2018.
Unlike other financial zones in the region, this new financial city will be open to all businesses —local and international — and will not be restricted to QFC licensed firms. As such, it will be closer to other international financial and business districts.
The mixed-use development will comprise more than 100 buildings, with a combination of prime commercial and residential properties, retail, cultural and entertainment areas.
Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida, CEO of QFC Authority, said an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 sqm of space in Msheireb Downtown Doha would be occupied by QFC and its entities.
The relocation process is expected to start in the last quarter of 2017, catapulting MDD to the position of Qatar’s main financial hub by 2018 or 2019, Abdulla Hassan Al Mehshadi, Msheireb Properties CEO, said. He pointed out that Msheireb had once held the status of the country’s business hub, so it would be actually regaining that status.
Nearly 80 percent of the work on all three phases of MDD have been completed and for the fourth phase Msheireb Properties is in talks with Qatar Rail to have a station, over which the fourth phase will be built.
Al Mehshadi said that at the international level there are important financial centres like London and New York and Msheireb Downtown Doha would gradually grow in stature to something similar in the region.
Al Jaida hoped QFC’s relocation from central Doha would act as a catalyst for other companies including Qatar Stock Exchange to follow suit.
The inclusion of a number of national entities and government buildings within Msheireb Downtown Doha as a whole represents a significant step towards the realisation of deeper collaboration and economic integration.
Msheireb Downtown Doha will encompass five heritage quarters and multiple geographic phases.
Its tenants will include major government buildings, heritage quarters, four heritages houses within Msheireb Museums, a school and the National Archive, as well as the recently opened mosque.
The result will be a lively urban neighbourhood, which as well as hosting the QFC and its licensed firms, will also offer leisure facilities and a number of residences including townhouses, upscale apartments and hotels, all centred around a new public square, Barahat Msheireb.
The Peninsula
