Qatar is to build seven "cities" to house more than a quarter of a million migrant labourers building major infrastructure and projects for the 2022 World Cup, officials said. Government officials said all seven should be built by the end of 2016 and that the largest, "Labour City" for 70,000 people and complete with its own 24,000-seat cricket stadium, will begin housing workers in the next few weeks.
The move to construct more modern facilities comes amid continued criticism of the accommodation provided by Qatar for the vast number of migrant workers and with Doha admitting that sub-standard and illegal living conditions are still being used. In total, 258,000 workers -- some 25 per cent of Qatar's migrant labourer population -- will be housed, officials said.
Dr Abdullah bin Saleh al-Khulaifi, labour and social affairs minister, told the new accommodation centres were the "future". "That's the blueprint," he said of Labour City.
"There are in the pipeline (several) cities around the nation. I know our people want to have better accommodation for their labourers." Khulaifi added that Qatar has effectively doubled its number of housing inspectors to 300, and that should increase to 400 soon. "We have labour accommodation standards and we are monitoring them and penalising those who are violating (the rules)," he said.
The cities, a mixture of government and private sector accommodation, will be built across Qatar, from the fringes of the capital Doha to one in the north. Most will house around 28,000 workers.
Khulaifi said there was no final figure for how much the projects will cost. However, Labour City, with 55 buildings including a mall, clinic and the second largest mosque in Qatar, cost 3 billion Qatari Riyals ($825 million, 740 million euros) to build. Human Rights Watch researcher Nicholas McGeehan called the plan to build new accommodation a "useful step", adding "we don't want anyone housed in degrading conditions that we still see far too often in the Industrial Zone".
