Foreign workers work at one of the football stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. (Photo : Getty Images)
State-owned China Railway Construction Co. (CRRC) was awarded the $751 million (5.17 billion yuan) contract to build the main stadium for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the first time for a Chinese company to serve as contractor for a World Cup venue, the statement from the state firm's website said on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
According to the statement, Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy chose the joint venture of CRRC and Qatar-based HBK Contracting to be main contractor for the iconic Lusail Stadium, the site of the opening ceremony and final match of the 2022 soccer tournament.
The Global Times reported that the contract given was 40 months. The stadium, which has 92,000 seats, is set to be completed in 2020. About 100,000 tons of steel will be incorporated in the membrane structure measuring about 45,000 square meters. Once completed, it could become the world's largest building made of membrane structure, a newly developed architectural method for non-structural covering.
The statement said that the committee was "delighted to award the main contract for Lusail Stadium to HBK and CRCC as a joint venture. Lusail Stadium will be the centerpiece of our tournament in 2022."
Hassan Al Thawadi, the committee's secretary general, was quoted as saying.
A Gulf Business report said that construction work in the site started in 2014 but the main-work contractor will come on site by the end of 2016. The design and concept of the stadium will be presented in 2017, the report added.
But with the short period given for its construction, there were concerns if the stadium can be completed on time. The report cited the 80,000-seat Beijing National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, the main stadium used for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, which was completed in 54 months. About 53,000 of steel were used in its construction.
"Although the Bird's Nest was a more complicated project compared with Lusail Stadium, time pressure is an issue," Wu Weijia, deputy director of the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.
"It would be much better if the local contractor has produced supporting facilities," Wu said, adding that cooling technology can also become a challenge since the average high temperature in Qatar reaches about 41 degrees Centigrade in the middle of the year.
At least six companies, including well-known contractors from Germany, Italy, Spain and France, participated in the bidding, Wang Lei, the principal of the project bidding group at CRCC, said.
The report said that the state firm was awarded the contract after five rounds of business negotiations and nine rounds of technology negotiations.
