Jonathan Saul, Marwa Rahhad, and Davide Barbuscia

LONDON/DUBAI – Qatar has approached banks around the world for funding assistance in a massive infrastructure project that reflects its growing ties to Washington.

Sources familiar with the situation in the Middle East and West said Doha wanted to invest in U.S. East Coast ports. The plans were in a preliminary phase.

Qatar Investment Authority’s sovereign wealth fund and Qatar Government Communication Office declined to comment.

According to Michael Frodl (a U.S.-based advisor on projects such as maritime security and commerce, who knows about Qatar’s strategy, “The Qataris had been planning for nearly a year to test out the waters with U.S. ports investments.”

We believe that an investor who has the $10 billion Qataris want to invest in American ports infrastructure will look first at the East Coast. Although the West Coast gets all the U.S. government attention and private investment, improvements are long overdue on the East Coast.

Frodl indicated that port access via highways or rail would be of paramount importance.

He said, “We would be interested in medium-sized, aging ports south of Boston” and “north of Jacksonville”.

Sources in the Middle East said that the loans would be secured against the port assets. They also mentioned that Qatar is currently in discussions with banks for the appointment of a structuring consultant.

Banks being approached Morgan Stanley (NYSE:), HSBC Credit Suisse (SIX,) two sources.

Morgan Stanley, HSBC, and Credit Suisse did not respond to requests for comment.

Congress passed the $1.2 trillion U.S. president Joe Biden infrastructure package in November. It includes $5.22Billion federal funding for specific programs. However, this is less than what was needed to invest in crumbling infrastructure.

U.S. Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that Washington had provided a “historic amount of funding” for ports to help them improve, however it could not all have been from federal grants.

Buttigieg stated that “we’re going have to continue working with local and state partners to ensure that we have all the resources needed.”

The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that there are about 360 ports.

According to a Middle East source, Qatar may be looking at three port projects.

An additional finance source confirmed Qatar’s plans for investment in the United States.

Qatar holds very little in foreign ports at present. However, last year the state’s commercial ports operator, QTerminals, purchased the Turkish port of Akdeniz and entered into an agreement to develop the Black Sea port of Olvia in Ukraine. 

STRONGER TIES

After the close relationship between Qatar and the United States, the relations have grown. The small, but powerful Gulf monarchy developed strong ties to Taliban. They also played a major role in talks leading up to the 2020 agreement that would allow the U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Washington and Doha agreed to allow Qatar to represent U.S. diplomat interests in Afghanistan in November.

Frodl explained that Qatari investment in U.S. Infrastructure dates back at most 2016

“Things could have been better if not for Trump’s previous administration which was close to Saudi Arabia.”