World's Largest Port Wired

WORLD'S LARGEST PORT 'WIRED' BY AUSSIE FIRM IN $74 Million DEAL

Parliamentary Secretary for Trade, Hon. Anthony Byrne MP, welcomed the announcement today that Australian firm WWW Projects had kicked off the first phase of a $74 million deal to project manage, design, integrate and install the telecommunications and IT infrastructure, for what will be one of the world's largest ports in Qatar.

Speaking at an Austrade-hosted meeting with Ambassadors from the Middle East at Parliament House, Mr Byrne said this success was a great example of the strength of Australia's offering in developing and delivering innovative, competitive, globally-relevant IT & T service solutions in the region.

"Australia is keen to strengthen its trading ties even further with the region through the Free Trade Agreement it has been negotiating with the Gulf Cooperation Council," said Mr Byrne.

"Based in Nunawading, Victoria, WWW Projects will hire 120 people in-market at the height of this project. 15 new Aussie design engineers have already been hired.

"WWW Projects will deliver cutting edge communications and security infrastructure to make the Ras Laffan harbour a highly efficient and secure facility for managing the export of Qatar's leading product, liquefied natural gas," said Mr Byrne.

"The company will network around 60 km of roads and 90 new buildings for the port precinct."

Qatar has one of the world's fastest growing economies in the world and has one of the highest GDP's per capita in the world. This GDP has grown at an average rate of around 20% over the past 5 years, mainly due to its oil and gas reserves and rising prices. This in turn has produced an estimated US$130 billion surplus to invest in next 5-7 years

"Qatar is looking to diversify with investments in alternative industries such as liquefied natural gas and hydrocarbon industries. It is also diversifying into world class healthcare and education systems, information & communication technology, finance, tourism, sports and leisure," he said.

"Australia is committed to promoting outward and inward investment, an objective assisted through the work of the Australian Government's trade and investment development agency, Austrade."

"Austrade provided significant support to help bring the project to fruition"

PROJECT DETAILS:

Qatar Petroleum is currently constructing the Ras Laffan Industrial City and Harbour to manage the export of liquefied natural gas products in Super tankers. It is said to be the largest industrial city in the world with one of the largest ports in the world.

The Ras Laffan Port project will involve
· Laying over 200km of fibre optic cable backbone (buried in road structure),
· 10km of PAGA cables and equipment for the public address and general alarm system,
· Connecting 120 buildings and structures (navigation equipment and communication towers) to the fibre backbone
· Installing advanced technologies including Cisco WAN with VoIP and wireless coverage, Navigation Aids, Hotlines, Marine Radio, Tetra, GSM, SDH network, connection to public telecom networks.

Qatar's population is around 1.6 million a figure that has doubled in the last 5 years. This is due to the large expatriate community that make up over 80% of the population. Qatar's official language is Arabic, but English is widely spoken.