As Qatar gears up to fulfill its commitment to host the FIFA world cup in 2022, Qatar Aluminium Extrusion Company (QALEX) is preparing to play its role in the country's future. With a production capacity of 10,000 tons per year and world class machinery. Qatar's first local Aluminium extrusion plant is well equipped to cater to the market needs.

We had this project in our list since the establishment of QIMCO in 1990. The market was small at that time so we decided to postpone the project. As the economy of Qatar grew and Qatalum was formed, an Aluminium extrusion plant becomes essential. We recalled the idea again in 2008. At that time we invited the expected end users of Aluminium who are also our partners and we started a feasibility study and we decided to go ahead with the project. This is how the first Aluminium extrusion plant in Qatar was born.

Our production capacity is 8,000 to 10,000 tons per year and after the completion of our expansion plan we expect to double that amount to 20,000 tons per year. We have a lot of things in pipeline and we plan to add more machinery and products soon including additional powder coating line, wood finish line installation and thermal brake unit installation. The ground work for the new plant has already started.

As the business is slowing down in some neighboring countries, everyone is looking to Qatar. We expect a 10 to 20% increase in local demand on Aluminium annually, especially with the expected announcement of new projects in preparation for the FIFA world cup 2022. We are preparing ourselves to cater to the maximum demand required by Qatar, so we are aiming at 50% share of the local market.

The volume of projects expected to be completed by 2022 is huge and my heart goes for those in charge of managing the implementation of these simultaneous projects. Challenging as it may be, this is a window of opportunity for a lot of industries. Aluminium is one of them and most of these projects require the usage of Aluminium. The GCC countries are becoming a hub for Aluminium production with many international smelters heading to the region. This entitles us to think about the downstream of Aluminium manufacturing, which includes extrusion, powder coating and Aluminium casting among others.

No doubt there is an environmental Impact for every industrial operation, but it is an issue of balance between advantages and disadvantages. However, the state of Qatar is aware of this issue and Qatar's environmental authorities stipulated a number of conditions when the Environmental impact Assessment for the Qatalum project was approved. Now the Qatalum project is setting new standards when it comes to the environmental performance.