By Abilash Nalapat

The main contractor recently announced for Al Rayyan Stadium – a proposed host venue for matches through to the quarter-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™ – believes the stadium will become a benchmark project for the company. Upon completion in 2019, the 40,000-seater Al Rayyan Stadium will be a fine example for Indian construction company Larsen & Toubro's (L & T) general stadium investment projects to follow, according to L & T Whole Time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Buildings, Minerals & Metals) M. V. Satish.

"The Al Rayyan Stadium project with the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) will not only be a milestone for L & T's future in stadium investment but will be the shining light of the company's general stadium investments in Qatar, India and the whole of Asia," Mr. Satish told www.sc.qa following the appointment of India's largest construction company as the main contractor of the stadium.

The Ramboll and Pattern-designed stadium will be handed over to the current Qatar Stars League champions Al Rayyan Sports Club, with 20,000 modular seats from the top tier to be dismantled and donated to developing football nations.

Qatari contractor Al Balagh Trading and Contracting are partnering L & T in a joint venture on the Al Rayyan Stadium delivery.

"L & T is extremely proud to have been chosen by the SC along with our partner Al Balagh to deliver their World Cup vision for 2022. This is a big achievement in the company's history. We are very impressed with the SC's way of managing the techno-commercial negotiation process. We will be ready to proudly inaugurate the stadium within the timeframe for completion," said Mr. Satish, who is based in L & T's head office in Chennai.

Mr. Satish added his organisation's Indian engineering procurement construction (EPC) project delivery expertise will be the DNA of the Al Rayyan project. "Our EPC delivery has been successful in many countries. You will find people of about 40 nationalities in our global staffing. Yet the core of the business is the Indian EPC project delivery expertise, and we are very confident that we will deliver an amazing Al Rayyan Stadium along with our partner Al Balagh."

A high-profile sporting example of the success of the L & T delivery model is their association in constructing the erstwhile Al Rayyan stadium which this new one will replace. "We were up against a tight deadline for the project and are proud we completed it on time," said Mr. Satish.

The Indo-Qatari joint venture has teamed up with London-based architect KSS and Stuttgart-based structural engineer Schlaich Bergermann & Partner for design execution.

"When we got to know about SC's basic design we were looking to add value and hence we tied up with KSS and Schlaich Bergermann," said Mr. Satish. "Schlaich Bergermann are global pioneers in wide spanning structures like stadium roofs. They have a big reference list from many stadiums used in FIFA competitions."

Mr. Satish emphasised the company's steadfast commitment towards the SC's Workers' Welfare Standards during the project delivery. "Nobody has ever thought of not taking SC's Workers' Welfare Standards 100 percent seriously in our project execution strategy," he said. "The SC Workers' Welfare Standards are aligned to L & T labour standards. Most importantly, we will implement a project-specific labour welfare management plan. The commitment we gave SC from day one is that we will never ever cut corners in implementing labour standards."

The Al Rayyan site has achieved over 1.3 million man hours without lost time incidents (LTI).