Qatar’s public works authority Ashghal has awarded a consultancy services contract to CH2M Hill Halcrow to manage its road operation and maintenance works.

Under the terms of the deal, Halcrow will provide professional road safety engineering, road design, quantity-surveying consultancy and contractor supervision services over the next five years.

The firm will also provide various technical resources and locate a number of transport specialists at Ashghal’s offices to help implement a series of road safety improvement programmes, including those affecting pedestrians, schools, rural roads and intersections.

"This is a crucial goal for our client and we are determined to help deliver on this by bringing together our best specialists and practices from across the world."

The projects are being implemented as part of Qatar’s National Road Safety Action Plan.

The plan will vary from relatively minor improvements, such as better signage, to large-scale upgrades, such as new pedestrian bridges or construction of additional lanes.

CH2M Hill MENAI transportation business development lead Max Clark said: "CH2M HILL’s global transport planning experience and growing involvement in O&M and asset management projects in the Middle East made it the most qualified engineering consultancy to work with Ashghal to improve road safety in Qatar."

CH2M HILL’s project coordinator and transportation leader in Qatar Steve Kinghorn said: "This is a crucial goal for our client and we are determined to help deliver on this by bringing together our best specialists and practices from across the world."