DOHA, Qatar : It has been dubbed the “Venice of Qatar”; a project called “The Pearl-Qatar” is an upscale Riviera-style development, and when completed in 2011, the project will be home to some 40,000 residents.

Investors from 45 countries have flocked to the project to snap up properties there, but real estate is not the only attraction for Singapore companies.

With its mix of Venetian charm and Arabic chic, the US$20 billion project is built entirely on a man-made island.

All 4 million square metres of it is reclaimed land, creating 32 kilometres of new coastline.

The project has been launched in phases, and according to the developer, 35 percent of the units have already been taken up.

In fact, an entire residential district was sold within an hour recently.

That transaction alone amounted to over US$405 million.

These mind-boggling numbers were presented to the Singapore delegation, led by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

The progress of the development was obvious as the visitors cruised the waters of the Arabian Gulf.

However, while property is one obvious area to consider, Singapore companies may want to venture into other sectors.

Minister of State for Education Lui Tuck Yew said, “There are some possibilities on how Singapore companies can participate because we were asking them about security arrangement, we were asking them about the operation and the running of the entire complex, and they thought that that’s an area where Singapore companies would be interested to look into.” more…