I'm going to have a wee ramble here, addressing some of the comments that I have read in this heated debate.
This world cup bid of Qatar's is actually being taken seriously by some people here - that's the biggest surprise to me.
I've been here 8 years now, and being in the freight and logistics business, I have first hand experience of the infrastructure challenges faced by many businesses, venues and events in Qatar.
Doha commercial port (the sea port) is collapsing under the strain of the cargo being landed here now, and it took 2 years to recover from the cargo needed for the Asian Games.
Doha Airport had over a kilometre (yes, 1000 metres) of cargo lying out on the apron for a year (6 months before and 6 months after the Asian Games).
They've been in the "final stages of planning" the new sea port since the day I got here.
NDIA is as much of shambles as all of the other infrastructure projects.
Ashgal (the Public Works Authority), collectively speaking, couldn't get a shag in a brothel as the management are all Qataris who unfortunately while they have ambition, are sadly lacking in ability (not their fault, they are put into positions that they don't have the skills for).
Qatar-Bahrain causeway is delayed by 2 years before the latest set of (revised) plans even hit the engineering desks of the bidding companies.
You can't walk anywhere in June - football fans like to walk.
Qatar doesn't welcome anyone with open arms. Qatar tolerates foreign workers on it's soil because Qataris have neither the will nor the ability to take on the jobs that we foreign workers will handle for a fee - a simple business arrangement as so aptly described in earlier posts.
For the gentleman who uses the Qatar bid 2022 logo as his avatar here, don't think for one minute that you are, or ever will be, a permanent fixture in Qatar. As soon as your usefulness is over, or you step out of line in any way whatsoever, you backside will be on the next plane back to wherever you came from.
No last seranade, no sweet goodbyes; just pack your bags and get out. Which is their right, as it is their country and not ours.
Qatar has many logistical problems still to overcome just to make it a liveable place now, never mind coping with something as enormous as a World Cup.
At the end of the day, when all is said and done, there are still workers sleeping 20 to a room and sharing one broken toilet between 60 in the industrial area, there are still housemaids being raped, beaten and abused on a daily basis, and there is still one law for Qataris and a completely different set of rules for the rest of us.
And is FIFA allows a World Cup to be held in a country with that kind of Human Rights record, then shame on them.
I'm going to have a wee ramble here, addressing some of the comments that I have read in this heated debate.
This world cup bid of Qatar's is actually being taken seriously by some people here - that's the biggest surprise to me.
I've been here 8 years now, and being in the freight and logistics business, I have first hand experience of the infrastructure challenges faced by many businesses, venues and events in Qatar.
Doha commercial port (the sea port) is collapsing under the strain of the cargo being landed here now, and it took 2 years to recover from the cargo needed for the Asian Games.
Doha Airport had over a kilometre (yes, 1000 metres) of cargo lying out on the apron for a year (6 months before and 6 months after the Asian Games).
They've been in the "final stages of planning" the new sea port since the day I got here.
NDIA is as much of shambles as all of the other infrastructure projects.
Ashgal (the Public Works Authority), collectively speaking, couldn't get a shag in a brothel as the management are all Qataris who unfortunately while they have ambition, are sadly lacking in ability (not their fault, they are put into positions that they don't have the skills for).
Qatar-Bahrain causeway is delayed by 2 years before the latest set of (revised) plans even hit the engineering desks of the bidding companies.
You can't walk anywhere in June - football fans like to walk.
Qatar doesn't welcome anyone with open arms. Qatar tolerates foreign workers on it's soil because Qataris have neither the will nor the ability to take on the jobs that we foreign workers will handle for a fee - a simple business arrangement as so aptly described in earlier posts.
For the gentleman who uses the Qatar bid 2022 logo as his avatar here, don't think for one minute that you are, or ever will be, a permanent fixture in Qatar. As soon as your usefulness is over, or you step out of line in any way whatsoever, you backside will be on the next plane back to wherever you came from.
No last seranade, no sweet goodbyes; just pack your bags and get out. Which is their right, as it is their country and not ours.
Qatar has many logistical problems still to overcome just to make it a liveable place now, never mind coping with something as enormous as a World Cup.
At the end of the day, when all is said and done, there are still workers sleeping 20 to a room and sharing one broken toilet between 60 in the industrial area, there are still housemaids being raped, beaten and abused on a daily basis, and there is still one law for Qataris and a completely different set of rules for the rest of us.
And is FIFA allows a World Cup to be held in a country with that kind of Human Rights record, then shame on them.