LONDON: Qatar’s preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup risk being ripped apart, as a boycott of the country hits construction projects and casts a cloud of uncertainty over the event for big-name sponsors.
Lawyers have warned that construction delays could produce a rash of litigation as contractors, clients and suppliers seek to dodge liability for cost and time overruns.
But the boycott of the country by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain represents just the latest hurdle for an event that has been dogged by controversy ever since Qatar won the bid to host it seven years ago.
The implications of the boycott are far-reaching, both diplomatically and for Qatar’s many projects under construction ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
More than half of Qatar’s raw materials for construction arrive by road, but the only road in is through Saudi Arabia, which is now closed.
This means supplies needed for eight stadiums and other associated infrastructure must come through the bottleneck of the recently completed Hamad Port.
“There’s concern that this may adversely impact the delivery of the 2022 World Cup facilities, not just stadiums but other elements needed to successfully host the event, including roads, utilities and hotels,” said Andrew MacCuish, a Dubai-based partner at Kennedys, the international law firm.
“It was always seen as a tight timetable, and it has just got tighter. At some point, there will be an inspection by FIFA, and if it determines that it’s not on track, there’s a risk that the 2022 World Cup will be moved elsewhere.”
Qatar plans to build eight world-class football venues, create 60,000 new hotel rooms and finish a metro system for Doha, at a combined cost of more than $150 billion, as it prepares to host the world’s biggest single-event sporting competition.
But to do that, it relies on an army of expatriate construction professionals who may be less willing to consider a move to the tiny state.
“First there’s the human factor, which means Qatar ceases to be as attractive a place as it may have been perceived in the past,” said MacCuish.
“People, especially those with families, will be looking at the impact on their lifestyles, for example, the ease of travel in and out of Qatar, which has become a bit more difficult. Professionals thinking about moving there, or indeed remaining, will be looking at these issues, as well as the quality of the work available under the boycott.”
But delivering billions of dollars’ worth of the physical infrastructure needed to host the event is only part of the challenge now facing Doha.
One of the biggest financial clouds hanging over the tournament relates to sponsorship and how potential sponsors perceive the current crisis and future risk.
“What the blockade may do is deter potential sponsors, which have been slow in coming forward for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and 2022,” said Steve Menary, a UK-based football author.
“Those sponsors that have emerged are predominantly from Russia or China, which wants to host the tournament sooner or later. China is heavily exposed economically in the region through its Belt and Road economic corridor, and even though Chinese spending on football is ballooning, taking out sponsorships for a Qatari World Cup being boycotted by China’s partners in the region is hard to imagine right now.
“There have been no more announcements on sponsors from FIFA since Vivo signed up in May, which was a month before the boycott started.”
Even before the current crisis, the 2022 World Cup had been marred by allegations of corruption.
The 434-page Garcia Report, which looked into the 2018 and 2022 bidding processes, carried no concrete evidence of bribes to secure Qatar’s hosting rights, but author Michael Garcia raised his concerns over ties between its government and the World Cup bidding committee.
The 2022 World Cup may be five years away, but the next 12 months will be critical for Qatar in ensuring projects remain on track and sponsors are kept reassured.
Qatar World Cup faces threat of construction delays, sponsorship worries
Qatar World Cup faces threat of construction delays, sponsorship worries
Tunisia’s famed blue-and-white village threatened after record rains
- The one-time home of French philosopher Michel Foucault and writer Andre Gide, the village is protected under Tunisian preservation law, pending a UNESCO decision on its bid for World Heritage status
SIDI BOU SAID, Tunisia: Perched on a hill overlooking Carthage, Tunisia’s famed blue-and-white village of Sidi Bou Said now faces the threat of landslides, after record rainfall tore through parts of its slopes.
Last week, Tunisia saw its heaviest downpour in more than 70 years. The storm killed at least five people, with others still missing.
Narrow streets of this village north of Tunis — famed for its pink bougainvillea and studded wooden doors — were cut off by fallen trees, rocks and thick clay. Even more worryingly for residents, parts of the hillside have broken loose.
“The situation is delicate” and “requires urgent intervention,” Mounir Riabi, the regional director of civil defense in Tunis, recently told AFP.
“Some homes are threatened by imminent danger,” he said.
Authorities have banned heavy vehicles from driving into the village and ordered some businesses and institutions to close, such as the Ennejma Ezzahra museum.
- Scared -
Fifty-year-old Maya, who did not give her full name, said she was forced to leave her century-old family villa after the storm.
“Everything happened very fast,” she recalled. “I was with my mother and, suddenly, extremely violent torrents poured down.”
“I saw a mass of mud rushing toward the house, then the electricity cut off. I was really scared.”
Her Moorish-style villa sustained significant damage.
One worker on site, Said Ben Farhat, said waterlogged earth sliding from the hillside destroyed part of a kitchen wall.
“Another rainstorm and it will be a catastrophe,” he said.
Shop owners said the ban on heavy vehicles was another blow to their businesses, as they usually rely on tourist buses to bring in traffic.
When President Kais Saied visited the village on Wednesday, vendors were heard shouting: “We want to work.”
One trader, Mohamed Fedi, told AFP afterwards there were “no more customers.”
“We have closed shop,” he said, adding that the shops provide a livelihood to some 200 families.
- Highly unstable -
Beyond its famous architecture, the village also bears historical and spiritual significance.
The village was named after a 12th-century Sufi saint, Abu Said Al-Baji, who had established a religious center there. His shrine still sits atop the hill.
The one-time home of French philosopher Michel Foucault and writer Andre Gide, the village is protected under Tunisian preservation law, pending a UNESCO decision on its bid for World Heritage status.
Experts say solutions to help preserve Sidi Bou Said could include restricting new development, building more retaining walls and improving drainage to prevent runoff from accumulating.
Chokri Yaich, a geologist speaking to Tunisian radio Mosaique FM, said climate change has made protecting the hill increasingly urgent, warning of more storms like last week’s.
The hill’s clay-rich soil loses up to two thirds of its cohesion when saturated with water, making it highly unstable, Yaich explained.
He also pointed to marine erosion and the growing weight of urbanization, saying that construction had increased by about 40 percent over the past three decades.
For now, authorities have yet to announce a protection plan, leaving home and shop owners anxious, as the weather remains unpredictable.
