Building a Better World Cup
Author - Human Rights Watch
In December 2010, the small Gulf state of Qatar won its bid to host the 2022 World Cup—a first for an Arab country.
Over the next decade the country will undertake massive new construction to support the quadrennial world championship soccer games: its winning bid included commitments to build nine state-of-the-art stadiums equipped with cooling technology to beat temperatures that reach an average high of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) during the summer months, a new airport complete with a sail-shaped terminal, public transport infrastructure, $20 billion worth of new roads, a bridge to neighboring Bahrain (the longest in the world), 54 team camps, and sleek new hotels for spectators. As of mid-2012, a limited number of World Cup-related projects were under construction and new tenders began to be issued for contracts tied to construction of venues for the 2022 games.
