Amid investigations for corruption from the FIFA ethics committee, officials released a statement saying they were going to reduce the number of stadiums built for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by a third.
No official reason was given for eliminating the four stadiums, but John Sfakianakis, a chief investment strategist in Saudi Arabia said “their decision was motivated by cost-cutting following an assessment of the real needs on the ground.”
Qatar has also been dealing with controversy over the labor practices that have gone into building these stadiums for the 2022 World Cup. The International Trade Union Confederation came out with a report about a month ago saying that over 4,000 lives would be taken during the construction process. Cutting down on the construction is a start to eliminate safety concerns, but isn’t a guarantee.
The Khalifa International Stadium and 300 m tall Aspire Tower in Doha, Qatar will play a central role in the 2022 Fifa World Cup (Photo: Sophie James | Shutterstock.com)
Qatar is planning to spend over $200 billion building infrastructure for the world's most watched event. This includes $34 billion on a rail and metro system, $7 billion on a port, $17 billion on an airport and $4 billion on stadiums.
According to Bloomberg, work started later than planned on the metro system and the new airport is six years behind schedule.
There has been talk of Japan possibly taking over for Qatar in 2022, but that chatter seems to have died down online as of late. But should the costs and delays keep rising, FIFA may have to start looking at this option more seriously.
