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Having just returned from a research trip in Qatar in November 2007, I am astonished how much change the country has undergone since my last visit in June 2004. Qatar’s gas revenues are rapidly being spent to construct a twenty-first century country that was, just ten years ago, little more than a sleepy sheikhdom on the shores of the Persian Gulf.

Signs of modernization are everywhere. As an American citizen you need a visa to enter Qatar, but this can now be issued at the airport. Instead of waiting in long lines, a female officer at a booth now issues visas on the spot. Credit cards are welcomed, and as a bonus the visa will allow you to visit Oman as well. Interestingly, all the passport officers and luggage screeners are now Qatari women.

In the fashionable al-Dafna district of Doha, the vista is one of rising skyscrapers. There are now tens of them in different stages of construction. The imposing City Center shopping mall in the heart of al-Dafna is thriving with shops and business. When it was opened in 2001, it was said to be the sixth largest mall in the world. Three years ago it hosted one bank branch but now it has five, as well as money exchanges which allow over 600,000 foreign workers to send remittances to the Phillippines, India, Nepal, Egypt, Sri Lanka and other foreign destinations.

The new luxury mall Villagio was opened in 2006 with an interior similar to those of the five star hotels and casinos of Las Vegas. It has its own artificial sky with clouds and a Venetian-style canal complete with gondolas. It is not unusual to see traditional Qatari women covered in black from head to toe, sitting in the gondolas while the air is filled with Italian opera. Shopping centers are now so central to Qatari culture that on the weekends they are crammed full with families strolling in their best clothes. They go not only to shop but to dine, snack and above all to “see and be seen”.

This modernization has a few downsides, too. The hundreds of privately owned taxis that used to compete for fares have disappeared and been replaced by a single company, Karwa. While Karwa’s taxis are more modern and comfortable, they are harder to find and more expensive. Doha tried to counter this by starting a public transportation service in 2006, also run by Karwa, with bus service to various areas in the city. But the absence of covered bus stops means customers often have to wait under a sizzling sun. With the radical expansion of Doha has come the nightmare of enormous traffic jams, especially during rush hours. Traffic problems are exacerbated by endless roadwork and detours. Traffic police and heavy fines have forced a fundamental change of attitude among Qataris toward traffic rules. At one time drivers routinely ignored the rules, but now violation of a red light signal, for example, brings a fine of QR 10,000 (about US $3,000)!
The biggest surprise on this trip was the total remodeling of Doha’s old downtown market area--Suq Waqif. The narrow streets and winding alleys of the old suq are now clean and newly paved. Open-air shops are numbered and keep their merchandise inside the premises instead of spread out on the street. The remodeling has preserved the character of the traditional Arab suq, with each area specializing in merchandise such as textiles, clothing, souvenirs, kitchen utensils, sweets and toiletries. The main street of the suq now contains several remodeled cafes and popular restaurants with names like al-Bandar, Beirut, Istanbul, Umm Fatima and Umm Abd al-Aziz. Some serve traditional Qatari cuisine and the coffee shops offer tea, coffee, soft drinks and the traditional Arab water pipe.

Suq Waqif is now one of the hot spots to visit in Doha. Males and females, Arabs and foreign visitors can enjoy a water pipe while sipping tea and sitting on traditional long wooden chairs. Much of the credit for the historical renovation of the suq goes to Qatar’s ruler, Amir Hamid bin Khalifa Al-Thani. It is rumored that the Amir is so fond of the new Suq Waqif that he ordered all high buildings around the Suq to be demolished so that he could have an unrestricted view of it from his diwan.

One result of the rush to modernize is that finding a newspaper is no easy task unless you are staying at a first class hotel. Gone are the ubiquitous young Egyptian vendors who used to hawk newspapers on streets and at the roundabouts as one drove into the city. Now one has to go to a bookstore or gas station for the morning edition. Since 2004, two new dailies have been added to Qatar’s journalistic repertoire: an English language daily, the Qatar Tribune (2006), and a new Arabic language paper, al-Arab. Al-Arab is a revival of Qatar’s first Arabic language newspaper, which restarted again in November 2007 after a hiatus of eleven years. There are now four Arabic dailies (al-Sharq, al-Raya, al-Watan and al- Arab) and three English language papers (The Peninsula, The Gulf Times and The Qatar Tribune).

With its vast construction projects, improvement in infrastructure, and modernization of the education system, Qatar is trying hard to compete with Dubai as the Gulf center for investment and tourism. Ahmad Abd Allah al-Nuaimi, Head of the Tourism Office in Qatar, stated on November 4 that by 2012 Qatar would have 26,000 hotel rooms and that this number would double by the year 2016. Qatar Airways is already using Doha International Airport as a hub for passengers traveling between the United States, Europe and the Indian sub-continent and East Asia. By November 2007, Qatar Airways was serving some 55 destinations worldwide and had just signed a contract with Boeing for some 70 new planes. Qatar is building a new air terminal to handle this additional traffic.

Qatar has even bigger ambitions and dreams for the future. Doha intends to be a candidate to host the 2016 international Olympics and has already successfully hosted the 2006 Asian Olympic games, for which it built a huge sports city. The city’s boulevards are already filled with flags and banners welcoming the 2016 Olympic games. Qatar is also expanding industrially. In November, Crown Prince Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani laid the first brick for a new aluminum factory to be the largest of its kind in the world. This project is the result of a partnership between Qatar petroleum and the giant Norwegian company Hydo Aluminum. Qatar has altered is property ownership laws to allow foreigners to buy real estate in certain areas and is focusing on luxury and upscale real estate development.

Everything in Doha from its vast boulevards, new luxury cars, large malls and its modern infrastructure bespeaks prosperity and affluence. It says louder than words that Qatar, with the third largest natural gas reserves in the world, is rich--and enjoying its bounty.