 | ||
|
||
|
| ||
|
|
||
|
Qatar's
National Physical Development Plan 
The state of Qatar, through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture, is preparing an ambitious national physical development plan (PDP) to direct and guide Qatar's development into the 21st century. The Plan was carried out by the Ministry in collaboration with The Louis Berger Group (Berger) and Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK), under the direction of a steering committee headed by His Excellency Sheik Ahmed Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture. The process involved establishing a comprehensive planning framework incorporating a state-of-the-art, interactive geographic information system (GIS) to enable the government to manage and guide physical development needs to the year 2020. The GIS-based, state-of-the-art PDP maximizes the search, retrieval and analytic features of the GIS, relying to a large extent on the GIS's ability to link and interrelate spatial, non-spatial and text data within a single planning system. The PDP incorporated six distinct, but inter-related components--current and proposed physical development patterns, land use, community facilities, transportation, utilities and the environment--in an interactive framework. The large Berger/HOK multidisciplinary team included spatial planners, urban designers, economists, transport planners, traffic management specialists, environmentalists, architects and financial planners in a carefully integrated planning process. The PDP simultaneously addressed the country's physical planning needs at four geographic levels: the National and Regional Physical Development Plan, the Greater Doha Master Directive Plan, the Local Area Plan for the cities of Doha and Al Khor and, finally, the Detailed Area Plans for two areas within the city of Doha. The National and Regional Plan identifies specific land use designations including resort, heavy industry, extractive industry, aviation facilities, ports, agriculture as well as urban and rural areas. The National and Regional Plan also envisages provision of a wide range of public services and facilities including park and recreational facilities, schools, mosques, health and public safety facilities. The Greater Doha Master Directive Plan (MDP) provided a policy-oriented vision statement to serve the region for the next 25 years, based on the Qatari values and aspirations. Since 90 percent of the population of Qatar in the year 2020 is projected to reside in Greater Doha, the MDP incorporates population projections to establish the extent of growth for Greater Doha as well as recommended land uses and zoning standards, while establishing a sense of unity among the many communities contained within the Greater Doha region. The Local Area Plan provides geographically specific and more detailed land development policies and land use designations. At the fourth and most detailed level, the Plan provides recommendations for discrete geographic areas, consistent with policies established at the higher levels in the plan hierarchy, such as typical layout plans for new commercial and residential development, design guidelines and landscape design. While strengthening the capability of the State of Qatar to more effectively plan, initiate, monitor and assess actual and proposed development projects, the comprehensive PDP also assists the government to analyze current development trends and explores alternate development scenarios. The economic aspects of development were analyzed at the macro and micro levels, utilizing extensive economic and demographic data, which was then incorporated in an innovative computerized planning model which established key variables, identified major trends and allowed for a wide variety of "what-if" scenarios. Planners and decision-makers are also able to access and update the economic, social and physical development options. Final recommendations included the creation of a Planning Council to use the tools and models developed by the Team to continually update and modify the plan and guide the orderly development of the country and its capital city. The Team specified the staff required, regulations needed and training requirements to equip the Council to carry out its mission as the main planning body for the country. In addition, the Team's recommendations included phased plans for land use development; transportation and utility requirements, including water and sewerage systems and electricity networks; and environmental guidelines. The Plan provided the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture and other government agencies with an effective, dynamic and flexible tool that will guide and direct physical development in Qatar into the 21st century. Its success has established a model with widespread applicability in a variety of national and regional settings worldwide. |
| Go Back |
|
|
