Ministry Wraps Up “Qatar Freight Master Plan” Workshop
Doha – Qatar The Ministry of Transport today held a workshop on the Qatar Freight Master Plan (QFMP), attended by representatives of several government entities and agencies concerned, as well as consultancy firms and strategic partners. The workshop presented the QFMP deliverables. The QFMP aims at addressing the unique requirements and impacts of freight transportation in Qatar, thus enhancing the country’s ranking as a regional hub for freight in step with the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030. “The QFMP aims at establishing an integrated, multimodal land freight system aiming to bolster Qatar's economic growth and competitiveness, as well as providing strategic land transportation solutions that are efficient and competitive, in addition to environmentally-sustainable and cost-effective solutions to give Qatar a distinct advantage in regional and global trade to connect companies, products, services and individuals,” said MOT’s Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Land Transport Affairs, Hamad Essa Abdullah. He added that the fruitful discussions and the sharing of ideas and expectations by strategic partners and stakeholders at the workshop will significantly support achieving the objectives of the plan. The QFMP incorporates the Road Freight Design Manual, which offers a set of guidelines for designing freight networks to meet land transportation future needs. The Manual also includes the best practices on designing an efficient, safe freight infrastructure. Over the course of developing the QFMP, MOT conducted numerous surveys and questionnaires to gather data on freight origins, paths, and destinations, in addition to quantitative and qualitative data on Qatari freight industry. Extensive data was collected through traffic counts on roads, traffic counts on junctions using cameras, measuring trip duration on existing roads, classifying the vehicles including all types of trucks, and conducting surveys and questionnaires with employers and staff of construction, logistics, heavy and light transportation and freight services companies.
