Indian multi-national construction firm Larsen and Toubro will build a stadium in Qatar, which is scheduled to hold the 2022 FIFA World Cup, reported Reuters, citing a Qatar government official. The company has won a Rs. 903 crore contract to build the 40,000 seat Al Rayyan stadium.
L&T, as a joint venture partner, will be a contractor for the stadium, said an official source without wanting to be identified.
Qatar's hot desert climatic condition and long summers with temperatures ranging between 38 degree Celsius to 45 degree Celsius will require the Al Rayyan stadium to have cooling technologies, said Reuters. It added that post the tournament, Qatar plans to reduce seats in the stadium to 21,000 by packing off the upper tier seats to developing countries.
L&T, which is already building a metro line in Doha, had in the recent past sought projects in other Asian and African regions, as the Middle East region witnessed a slump in its construction activities. The drop in oil prices weighed in on many of their large projects.
Qatar, however, has taken huge cuts on its planned expenditure in building more healthcare facilities in 2016 as against its World Cup related priorities. Despite corruption scandals in FIFA and Qatar's prospects of hosting the world cup itself subject to media glare, the Arab nation neither doubted any change in venue nor slackened its pace of World Cup related projects, an official said.
The new contract comes as a renewed boost to the L&T's interest in the region.
Qatar is the world's richest country in terms of per capita earnings and its growth is fuelled by export of liquefied natural gas. However, Reuters reported that the slump in oil and gas prices has resulted in $12.8 billion of budget deficit in 2016 for the country.
