These 211-meter twin towers, which form a kind of arch, must host FIFA VIP guests, sometimes for thousands of dollars a night. Rooms should be available from October.
Beneath the two skyscrapers, mountains of sand pile up in front of Lusail’s waterfront, near the Lusail stadium, which will host the final on December 18.
“It works 24 hours a day“, assures AFP a project engineer, who chooses to remain anonymous. “We will have to wait to see if everything will be installed in time to satisfy people who are going to pay so dearly,” he warns.
40 kilometers from Lusail, in the almost desert neighborhood of Barwa Barahat Al-Janoub, another army of workers goes about their workday under artificial lighting at night or under a strong sun during the day.
In this new neighbourhood, small apartments have been built for fans with a smaller budgetwho in any case will have to pay about 90 dollars for a night in a steel bed in a shared dormitory, located 10 kilometers from the nearest subway station.
Reduced offer
This complex, which will later be reused to house thousands of migrant workers, should host more than 7,500 fans during the World Cup.
“We can’t say for sure that everything will be ready,” confides a source working on the project, specifying that more than 2,000 rooms still need to be finished.
Other Gulf cities, notably Dubai, say they are registering an increase in bookings for the time of the World Cup. Many fans have planned to stay elsewhere outside of Qatar and then travel to the neighboring emirate for matches.
In the port of Doha, three cruise ships will be able to accommodate up to 13,000 people for rates ranging between 180 and 800 dollars per night. For just over €400 a night, some fans will stay in traditional but luxurious tents on the shores of Al Khor, north of Doha, with bathrooms, flat-screen TVs and other luxury fittings.