Qatar's Public Works Authority (Ashghal) said it has begun work on the A-Ring Road project in a bid to boost traffic flow and ease congestion in the centre of capital Doha. The project is being implemented in five phases.

It is aimed at enhancing the capacity of the A-Ring Road by increasing the number of its lanes from two to four lanes in each direction along the road length of about 6.7 km. This is in addition to developing some of the streets perpendicular to the A-Ring Road, and developing service roads on both sides of the road, said a statement from Ashghal.

The scope of work includes the development of nine intersections includes the conversion of Dar Al Kutub Roundabout to a signal-controlled intersection, it added.

Mohammed Arqoub Al Khaldi, the head of Doha City Projects in Ashghal’s Roads Projects Department, said the project is significant as it connects many commercial and residential areas as well as development projects in Doha such as the Msheireb Downtown Doha project.

The A-Ring Road Development Project also includes increasing the number of parking bays, installing streetlighting, constructing pedestrian and cycle lanes, providing road signs and pedestrian crossings to enhance road safety, and landscaping, he noted.

Al Khaldi said major infrastructure work will be done as part of the project, such as upgrading the stormwater drainage system to avoid water accumulation during the rainy season, and developing the existing potable water network and irrigation network and drainage network.

The other four phases will begin soon and the entire project is likely to be completed by the end of 2019, he added.-TradeArabia News Service