You read that right, Qatar is planning on building a multi-billion dollar city to host the 2022 World Cup. The city, Lusail, is set to be complete by 2020 which is a very short time to build a multi-billion dollar city capable of housing 450,000 residents. We all still have many questions about the construction of Lusail, and how it’s going to be completed by 2020.
Thousands of “guest” workers have been put on visas sponsored by their employer. The system is called kafala and allows the employers of these workers to detain them and do not allow them to exit the country. They’ve been put to work on the 14-square-mile patch of land that is soon (hopefully) to be Lusail. The city is, “a futuristic project which will create a modern and ambitious society,” as well as being described as a, “smart, peaceful, and an inspirational environment”. For $45 billion I sure hope so. Hopefully Qatar can live up to the expectations and build a modern marvel of a city.
Lusail plans to have nineteen individual districts and four exclusive islands, residential neighborhoods, commercial districts, and plenty of amenities. At the center of the new city will stand the Lusail Iconic Stadium, one of ten being built around Qatar. The stadium, set to seat 86,000, will be by British architect Norman Foster. Foster has plans for the stadium to be completely reliant on solar-power, giving the stadium a zero-carbon footprint. The coolest planned feature of the stadium is the carbon-fiber sun shields, or “manmade clouds”.
