Qatar to Complete First World Cup Stadium by 2015
Qatar will complete the construction of its first World Cup 2022 stadium in 2015, a senior official announced on Monday.
Hassan Al Thawadi, Qatar’s 2022 World Cup Committee’s secretary general, said the first of 12 stadia planned for the tournament would include a state-of-the-art cooling system to combat the impact of the summer heat for players and fans.
“We are in the process of finalising development plans to host the World Cup in 2022 and we are looking to complete the first stadium with cooling system technology by 2015,” he said in comments published by the state-run Qatar News Agency.
Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup last December. It has attempted to counter concerns about the summer heat by promising that all the stadiums will be air conditioned.
He also said that Qatar was looking to “assign programme management” for the World Cup event by the end of this year with project planning starting in earnest in the first quarter of next year.
He said that the Gulf nation intends to hold another “major tournament” by 2020, as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup.
“Our intention is to host a major football tournament by 2020 as a first dress rehearsal. We can then host the Confederation’s Cup in 2021 so by 2022 we would be ready the big one,” he added.
He reiterated Qatar’s commitment to stage a carbon neutral World Cup by using the latest environment friendly energy sources such as solar energy.
He added that the event would “spur economic development here…as well as give opportunities to engage small and medium enterprises”.
“We see 2022 World Cup project as a great opportunity for development,” Al Thawadi told QNA.
Fears that Qatar might lose the World Cup 2022 amid allegations of bribery were dismissed last month by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
At a press conference in Zurich, Blatter said FIFA’s executive committee had received no further evidence on claims Qatar had paid bribes to members to secure the World Cup.
As a result, he said there was no reason to prompt a formal investigation into allegations from a whistleblower that Qatar had paid FIFA members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma $1.5m each to secure their vote.
“The World Cup 2022 is not touched,” he said. “I believe that the decision we took for the 2022 World Cup was done exactly in the same pattern and environment as the 2018 World Cup and there was no problem for FIFA to act in this direction.”
Andy Sambidge
Arabian Business