An expert on the Middle Eastern construction industry has said that architects working in Qatar are worried about the future of their projects, following the allegations sparked by a Sunday Times report last week of corruption during the country's 2022 World Cup bid. With many people calling for Qatar to be stripped of the event or for the bidding process to be re-run, there is a chance that Qatar might have to pull the plug on many of its major projects.
Speaking to the Architects' Journal Richard Thompson, the Editorial Director of the Middle East Economics Digest, said "A lot of people out here are watching it nervously."
Read on for more of the comments made by Thompson
Despite the risk posed by the allegations, Thompson made clear that the World Cup is just one part contributing to "Vision 2030" in Qatar, and so not all projects will be at risk: "The past 12 months have seen some pretty major infrastructure projects going ahead – the Doha metro, wastewater and sewerage programme... if the World Cup doesn’t go ahead all of those other things will carry on. The projects that will be affected are the stadiums and the ambitions for hotels will be scaled back."
These at-risk stadium plans will likely include the recently launched competition for the Centerpiece Lusail Stadium, and Zaha Hadid's Al Wakrah Stadium.
Story via Architects' Journal
