SC announces first home-grown turf planted around Qatar 2022 stadium

The first instalments of grass grown at the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy’s (SC) ground-breaking Turf Nursery have been planted around Al Bayt Stadium – Al Khor City.

The nursery – built to provide turf and trees for 2022 FIFA World Cup venues – is the first of its kind in the region, and forms part of the SC’s commitment to ensuring the tournament leaves a lasting sustainable and environmental legacy for Qatar.

More than 350,000sqm of grass is being transported and transplanted from the nursery to the area surrounding Al Bayt Stadium, a proposed 60,000 capacity semi-final venue, in an intricate process that will conclude in 2019. The seeds were originally imported from the US and later harvested in Qatar.

Yasser al-Mulla, the SC's Landscape and Sport Turf Management senior manager, said: “This is a very exciting time for us as we prepare to plant the turf on the first pitch of one of the new stadiums for 2022. The grass surrounding Al Wakrah and Al Rayyan stadiums will follow closely next November.”

Al Mulla added: “The grass is first planted on what we call a motherland, which is the term used to describe the land that was selected and tested to plant the turf and measure its suitability in the atmosphere and weather conditions in Qatar.

"First, we planted an area of 22,000sqm and, upon the successful testing, this was increased to 423,000sqm, cultivated with the same turf. It was harvested three times per year with the total amount being 1,200,000sqm."

The SC Tree Nursery spans an area of more than 880,000sqm, equal to the size of Aspire Park. Ittarget="_blank"'>