Reuters

 

Qatar is reviewing whether it will build all of the 12 stadiums proposed in its bid for the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament as it finalises plans that will go to FIFA for approval, the event’s organising committee said yesterday.

After it won the right to host the World Cup in 2010, Qatar had announced plans for a raft of construction and infrastructure projects over the following 15 years.

 “The requirement is a minimum of eight and a maximum of 12 stadiums,” the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy said in an e-mailed statement.

Qatar’s bid had included 12 stadiums “...but, as is the case with any FIFA World Cup, once a country is chosen as host, a review of the bid plans is made with the organisers to propose the final host cities and stadium projects,” the committee said.

It also said Qatar’s final proposal for the number of stadiums would be submitted to the FIFA Executive Committee for approval but did not give a deadline for the submission.

Running huge state budget surpluses because of its status as the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural gas, Qatar does not appear to face difficulty in funding its tens of billions of dollars worth of projects.

Construction work of five stadiums will start within a month and 92 training grounds will be built ahead of the tournament, the official Qatar News Agency quoted Ghanim Ali al-Kuwari, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy director of sports projects, as saying in the statement.

Al-Kuwari added that preliminary work had started at Al Wakrah stadium, one of eight main air-conditioned stadiums to be built all over Qatar.

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