In light of the decision No. 32 for 2013 issued by the State Cabinet to set up a committee to control the stock and prices of the construction materials including cement, steel, coarse and fine sand, limestone, bitumen and crushed stones, a committee was set up last year for this purpose and had closely coordinated with various government agencies, mainly the Qatar Statistics Authority, 2022 Qatar Committee and the Central Planning Office at the Ministry of Environment.
The committee’s role was to prepare the index which will monitor pricing and availability of basic construction materials on a monthly basis and issue an alert in advance in case of a sudden shortage of any building material, and ask importers to take immediate steps to meet the shortfall.
In a press conference following its third meeting, the committee stated that it will launch a monthly price index of primary construction materials with the Qatar Statistics Authority, stating that the price index will record all the price fluctuations of materials like cement, steel, limestone and bitumen among other materials. The committee will also estimate the amounts required of these materials up until 2022. Another duty of the committee will be making proposition regarding controlling inflation of these materials.
The committee pointed out that the index will be made available on its mobile application for smartphone users in the near future.
HE Minister of Business and Trade Sheikh Jassim bin Abdul Aziz Al Thani said that launching a price index is crucial because it was a vital tool to warn of inflation. HE the Minister said that the work of the committee in monitoring prices will require strong work with other state departments. The price index will enable those work on major projects having a strategic supply of those materials.
First Report on Construction Materials Prices