All photos by Baba Tamim

For many who enjoyed National Sport Day festivities last week, one of the highlights was the temporary opening of Oxygen Park in Education City, a sprawling 12-hectare space divided into several different parts.

However, the area remains far from finished and likely won’t be open until at least the fall, a Qatar Foundation official has told Northwestern University in Qatar student publication The Daily Q.

Muna Al Sulaiti, project engineer at Qatar Foundation Capital Projects, told the publication that construction is mostly complete, but QF is still waiting for park furniture such as benches, signs and trash cans to be delivered.

The park, which is located near the HBKU Student Center and offers views of the award-winning Qatar Faculty of the Islamic mosque, also needs Civil Defense approval, she said.

Master plan

Oxygen Park has long been a part of QF’s master plan, and was slated to be the permanent future home of QF’s Quranic Botanic Garden.

It is being built by MAN Enterprise Qatar and was supposed to open in 2014.

According to the developer’s website, the park will be “used for recreation, sports, horticultural, educational, display and hosting of large events. It comprises parkland, people mover corridor, sports ‘bowls’, hard & soft landscape features, water features, vine arbour, covered walkways, entertainment bowl and follies.”

Speaking to the Daily Q, Al Sulaiti added that there will also be a heritage area consisting of local buildings from the early 20th century that have been preserved to “teach people about Qatari culture.”

MAN has also built a underground parking garage near Oxygen Park that will in the future provide a link to the upcoming people mover system on campus. The garage was open to the public on NSD but it is unclear if it will remain open after the holiday.

Thoughts?