Planning of National Transport Infrastructure
In the Islamic Countries
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According to the principles of the descriptive analysis, Qatar’s institution are classified as
vertically driven where hierarchy is mainly following a top-down process. This idea comes out
from the Emiri decree, which outlines the duties that each ministry has in carrying out the
transport Vision of Qatar, embedded in the Qatar Vision 2030 (Qatar, 2008). For this reason,
instead of a real integration among ministries, there is a detailed process that is being followed
for the approval of each infrastructure project. The four ministries involved are
 Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics;
 Ministry of Municipality & Environment;
 Ministry of Transport & Communications;
 Ministry of Finance.
Each of them is assigned a specific role: the first ministry is in charge of making an overall
planning for a specific project; the plan will be filled in the second one and financially assessed
by the Ministry of Finance that – in the case of a positive assessment – will eventually approve
it.
Equally like the institutional, also the organizational factor analysis cannot ignore the role of the
National Vision 2030. It is the guiding principle which any project has to comply with.
The institutional procedure of the preparation of project appraisal and NTI planning starts
therefore with the preparation of tender documents. Once the study has been approved, it
follows the phase of request for proposals and the evaluation of bids, based on which a specific
consultant or contractor will be awarded with a contract. Only after this process, NTI plans will
be prepared and published and it will set the implementation mechanism in coordination with
the parties involved.
3.5.3. Technical Factors
In Qatar transport plans follow land use plans. Developments start with land use planning,
prepared by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, following the Qatar National
Development Framework and the Municipal Spatial Development Plan (63 zones). The
integration of policy related to land use and multi-modal transport logistics is crucial in order to
attain more sustainable planning outcomes. The Qatar NTI plans follow an integrated approach
regarding the transportation modes. Transport plans are tested and assessed using the Qatar
Strategic Traffic Model (QSTM), that emphasizes demand modelling platform characterized
mainly by flexibility and inclusiveness in network data management, comprising all means of
transport in an integrated transport model (Ministry of Municipality and Environment, 2013
and Zaina, 2017).
The traffic model is used to evaluate new network options of roads and public transport and
policies for future development of the transport system of Qatar, for conducting Traffic Impact
Studies (TIS) for the major projects of Qatar, and to evaluate how specific projects affect the
integral network and how successful traffic solutions can be designed.
Multi modal transport strategies (multi modal transportation facilities for Doha) are developed
in line with the NTI plan goals and are based on revealed and stated preference surveys and