STAFF are “working day and night” in a desperate race against time to get Qatar ready for the World Cup kick-off next week.
A fresh report has claimed that “Qatar has left it late” as they battle to get streets and fan zones ready for the start in 11 days.
It comes after disgraced ex-Fifa president Sepp Blatter blamed friend-turned foe Michel Platini for the “mistake” of awarding the Middle East nation the tournament.
Football fans heading to the World Cup are already fuming over the cost of accommodation – with some luxury hotel suites costing a whopping £23,000-a-night.
At the other end of the scale, supporters will fork out almost £200-a-night to stay in “cabins” that resemble a glorified shipping container.
And we reported ten days ago how England’s build-up is in a heap of rubble — with the team hotel a construction site less than a month before kick-off.
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The Sun witnessed migrant builders in overalls toiling in 35C heat to finish a swimming pool for Three Lions stars.
Now The Telegraph has provided an update as workers frantically put the “finishing touches to fan zones and parts of the infrastructure” around the capital Doha ahead of the World Cup – which was awarded amid huge shock and Fifa corruption 12 years ago.
They state that it looks like it “will go right down to the wire” with those sources, who have experience of the preparation process from recent tournaments, saying the oil and gas-rich nation have “left it late”.
The eight stadiums and newly-installed metro system are all operational.
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But they claim that workers are grafting deep into the early hours each night in order to get the official Fifa fan area at the Al Bidda Park, which opens on November 19 and is designed to host 40,000 people, up and ready for action.
They claim that “scores of migrant workers in their blue boiler-suit uniforms were still building the main entrances” on Tuesday.
The main stage is built, but the majority of the remaining site has not yet been completed, with “migrant labourers working as late as 10pm Doha time on Tuesday night with some, on their breaks, napping in the freshly-laid grass verges”.
A number of newly-installed street signs around the city are also still in their “bubble-wrap protection” as well as the World Cup-branded steel traffic dividers that sit on the Corniche seafront road.
However, despite the sites resembling ghost towns at the moment except for the workers, organisers are adamant that “Qatar is ready” to welcome hundreds of thousands of fans from next week.
A spokesman for the Supreme Organising Committee said: “All eight stadia were completed a full year ahead of the tournament start date, a degree of readiness no Fifa World Cup managed before us.
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“Other major infrastructure projects – including the new state-of-the-art Doha Metro, new expressways, and upgrades to Hamad International airport – are also complete and in full operation.
“Our attention now is squarely focused on hosting a tournament to remember for the many thousands of fans who will be travelling to Qatar.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
