Qatar Focused on World Cup Progress -- On the Scene

(ATR) A member of the development committee for the Qatar 2022 World Cup tells reporters Qatar is not concerned with negative media reports or the Swiss investigation into FIFA corruption.

"We focus on progress, communicating progress and making sure we engage with the local community for them to understand the benefits of the World Cup," said Nasser al Khater, assistant secretary general for tournament affairs of the Supreme Committee for Development & Legacy (SC).

With seven years remaining until the World Cup heads to Qatar, Khater says they are well on their way towards finishing the venue and infrastructure construction necessary to host the premier event of world football.

"Our progress is very, very good. I think we are happy with where we are now, and I believe we are on schedule to have all of our stadiums completed by the year 2020. Seven years out from the tournament, I’m very comfortable to say we are in a very, very good place," says Khater.

The SC has already begun work on six of the proposed venues, five of which have received approval from FIFA. Khater says he expects Khalifa International Stadium to finish construction first, with a completion date set for the beginning of 2017.

Khater says the venue plan is set to be the most compact in the history of the World Cup, a feat possible due to the small size of the country.

"Qatar is a small country so we promote the compact nature of this World Cup. For the players, they won’t have to travel after they finish a game. That relieves a lot of pressure and gives more time to focus on training and the game. It’s conducive to fans being congregated in smaller areas. It will be nothing more than one hour from one venue to the other."

In order to travel from one venue to the next, Doha is also well underway constructing a metro line, with reports suggesting work on the project is nearly 50 percent completed. The SC expects the rail system to be operational by 2019.

In order to assure these massive projects are on track and progressing as expected, the SC can remotely monitor each of these construction sites via a live camera feed capable of zooming in with great detail to all parts of the site. The feed is available in the SC control room located in Al Bidda Tower, or via a smartphone app.

The SC also uses this technology to monitor the health and safety of those working on these projects.

"We make sure these live cams that capture and store everything are at a fingertips away from us to be able to make sure that if there is an incident we can go back and see what the incident was and how it happened so we can rectify it and have an accurate understanding of what happened," said Khater.

Much ado has been made about the working and living conditions of migrant workers in Qatar, particularly following a blog post claiming 1,200 workers had died in construction related to the World Cup.

However, the Qatari government vehemently denies these claims and the SC says there have been zero deaths from construction on World Cup projects

"We’ve been working relentlessly on making sure our projects are adhering to international standards and in most cases I think the standards are even higher than what is considered the international standard. We have had zero major incidents. We’ve had zero fatalities in any of our projects," says Khater.

The SC created a Workers’ Welfare charter in 2014 to ensure the human rights and safety of workers are protected and they receive reasonable training, wages, work hours and accommodations. They have also renovated the workers’ accommodations sites to meet higher standards.

"It’s going to be an uphill battle in terms of improving the public opinion of the World Cup in Qatar, but I think that we are getting there. It’s the biggest challenge for this tournament," says Khater.

"We find that a lot of public perception is formed by individuals and organizations that haven’t been to Qatar. If you come here, you will be able to make an informed opinion instead of relying on what you hear and see in the media," he continued.

Another cloud hanging over the head of the World Cup organizers is the Swiss investigation into corruption at FIFA, particularly with the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

When asked about the investigation, Khater says authorities have not been in touch with the SC at all but they will fully comply with any requirements established by the Swiss investigators.

As for the corruption scandal that has tainted the leadership of the governing body, Khater says the SC wants a more transparent organization.

"What we would like to see is a strong transparent football governing body going forward, whoever it may be."

Reported and written by KevinNutleyin Qatar

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