Qatar says charter will protect workers of worldcup 2022

The committee responsible for the football World Cup in Qatar says a new "workers' charter" will protect workers deployed for the preparations of worldcup 2022.

Dario Cadavid, Assurance and Integration Senior Manager, Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, said worker safety was of "paramount importance".

However the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) said it was "very disappointed".

The ITUC's Sharan Burrow said the charter will not help migrant workers. Ms Burrow was critical of a process under which, she said, "none of (the) documents have been released to the public or discussed with unions, and workers remain in the dark about their rights".

The charter was announced at a conference of the Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (IOSH) held in the Qatari capital Doha on Wednesday.

Mr Cadavid told the conference: "We look forward to a long-term partnership with IOSH to ensure a lasting legacy of worker welfare standards in Qatar."

He added "we are working very hard preparing the groundwork, including developing a comprehensive strategy on workers' safety, health, security and welfare and the workers charter is is only a first step. We are aware of the task that is ahead of us and will work in a sustained and committed manner to succeed".

Qatar and other Gulf states have long been criticised by international labour and human rights organisation for the poor treatment of migrant workers who suffer from low wages, high death rates on construction sites and substandard living conditions.

Most of the workers come from the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines.

A new study on human trafficking by the International Labor Organisation (ILO) states that migrant workers in the Middle East are among the most likely group of people to become victims of forced labour.

The report highlighted the Kafala (sponsorship) system where workers are not allowed to end unfair employment contracts or change employers, calling it "inherently problematic".

The ITUC's Sharan Burrow said that what she called loopholes in the Qatari labour law created "conditions of 21st Century slavery".

She added: "Reform of Qatari labour law to meet international standards is the only way to give workers in Qatar their rights."

In a statement to the BBC, FIFA - the international football body which runs the World Cup - said that the ITUC and the ILO were among a number of organisations it was meeting to "ensure healthy, safe and dignified working conditions" are in place when stadium construction begins later this year.

Qatar to use solar power for cooling in Worldcup

BERLIN reported by CNN that Qatar is racing to develop efficient solar-powered cooling technology to counter the searing heat of the Middle Eastern summer in its stadiums during the 2022 soccer World Cup quoting a senior organising committee official Mr. Nasser Al-Khater Al-Khater said the wealthy emirate already boasted the world's first cooled stadium, albeit with traditional energy sources. Temperatures in Qatar can reach more than 40 degrees Celsius in the summer months.

"We showed (world governing body) FIFA how the cooling technology works, it was warm outside but in stadium was cold they wanted their jackets," Al-Khater said during a trip to Berlin for a Qatari business and investment conference. "So cooling a stadium is not the issue." The issue is that Qatar has promised to hold a carbon-neutral World Cup and so is researching solar-powered cooling technology. It will either create a central solar power farm or have individual ones installed in each of the 12 stadiums it is building, said Al-Khater.

 "When you don't use it for the stadiums you feed it into the grid," he said. The emirate developed a small, solar-powered prototype stadium seating 500 during the bid process but wants to develop more efficient technologies ahead of 2022. "With solar, the big challenge is how do you deal with solar technology in the desert in terms of withstanding the elements and getting it clean so it is efficient," Al-Khater said. He said he had met several German companies during his trip to Berlin that had interesting proposals. Germany has been a pioneer in solar technology.

 Many leading voices in football such as UEFA president Michel Platini have called for the World Cup to be held in December or January, when the average temperature is 17 degrees, rather than in the middle of the year. Historically, the World Cup has always been held in June and July and any change could lead to a major scheduling headache with the major European leagues normally playing through the winter. Qatar's right to stage the 2022 World Cup if the event is moved to the winter months would also be open to a legal challenge.

Al-Khater said Qatar would go ahead researching and installing the cooling technology either way as the stadiums would be used in the summer months even after the World Cup. "Whether it is a winter or summer World Cup we will be ready," he said. Al-Khater said Qatar, a tiny country home to just 1.7 million inhabitants, was using modular seating for the upper tiers of its new stadiums in order to be able to downsize after the World Cup.

"The idea is we will contribute the seats to countries that need to develop their sporting infrastructure." He said it was too early to discuss whether or not alcohol, which is legal in Qatar albeit under restrictions, would be allowed in the stadiums. "One thing we want people to know is alcohol is not part of our culture," he said. "And every World Cup you go to, people experience the local culture, its differences and similarities." Though led by a ruling family viewed as highly progressive by Gulf standards, the fact remains that most Qataris are very conservative.

Most practice Wahhabism, the austere form of Islam also practiced in Saudi Arabia. "We will come up with a solution that will keep everyone happy, so whether it means certain zones where alcohol is permitted, or another type of arrangement," he said. "Around the world people are steering away from alcohol in the stadium." Al-Khater said he hoped hosting the World Cup would further bolster Qatar's status as a sports hub in the region. "Qatar is also a second home to many teams that find they cant host matches, for example it is home turf for Iraq for their qualifying matches," he said.

Qatar eyes IPO for $12bn vehicle

Qatar is planning to offer shares in a new $12bn investment vehicle in May, in a move that will set in train one of the largest initial public offerings (IPOs) in the Middle East.

The investment vehicle – called Doha Global Investment Co – will list on the local stock market after the end of a public subscription period, Hussain Ali Al Abdulla, chairman of Qatar Exchange, said on Sunday.
He added that the IPO will be open only to Qatari companies, institutions and citizens and the nominal value of the shares listed will be 10 Qatari riyals. Foreign investors will be able to buy the company’s shares after the as-yet unspecified listing date.

Qatar announced the creation of the investment vehicle two months ago, in a move analysts said was aimed at boosting its international clout, and enriching its tiny population. The entity will be half-owned by the country’s sovereign wealth fund and is planning to invest across asset classes – potentially expanding Qatar’s widespread and fast-growing portfolio of global investments that range from German carmakers Porsche and Volkswagen to Tiffany, the American jeweller.

The investment firm will give the Qatari people and its companies “the opportunity to enjoy the access and deal flow that Qatar Holding has”, Ahmad al-Sayed, chief executive of Qatar Holding, the sovereign wealth fund, said in February. Qatar Holding has stood out from its sovereign wealth fund peers in the Gulf over the past year by investing in high-profile assets in the wake of the financial crisis.

Qatar’s efforts lift hopes for rare bird

Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, Qatar’s globally-recognised conservation organisation, has reaped yet another success by breeding Bulwer’s pheasant, classified as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

Established by Sheikh Saoud bin Mohamed bin Ali al-Thani in central Qatar, Al Wabra has earlier been credited for the stellar conservation work on the Spix’s macaw, Beira antelope, Somali wild ass and the Birds of Paradise.

“Naturally occurring in the lower montane forests of Borneo, Indonesia, the Bulwer’s pheasants are extremely difficult to breed and have not successfully bred in several decades in captivity,” Al Wabra’s director Dr Tim Bouts told Gulf Times.

The efforts of the bird team have been rewarded by the hatching of two Bulwer’s pheasant chicks, a first for Al Wabra, and their successful rearing.

“Breeding behaviour was observed and afterwards the female laid three eggs,” Dr Bouts recalled. Once candling revealed that two eggs were fertile, they were moved to the incubation room just before hatching.

The chicks, both males, barely weighed 35 grams when hatched. Raj, one of the bird keepers, taught them to eat by pecking towards the food with a small paint brush.

“It was amazing to see how the chicks immediately followed this pecking movement and started taking the food off the floor,” he said.

When the chicks were old enough and could eat completely independently, they were moved into a heavily planted outside aviary.

The chicks have already started displaying towards each other.

Al Wabra is now awaiting the arrival of a donated female soon from Al Bustan Zoological Centre near Dhaid, Sharjah, in the UAE, to hopefully form a second breeding pair.

“This will hopefully be the beginning of successful breeding of Bulwer’s pheasant, as a vibrant captive breeding population is needed to bring attention to the conservation of this elusive species,” Dr Bouts added.

Al Wabra, which focuses on breeding and protecting threatened species, is non-commercial and not open to the public. A member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, it is considered the only hope for the survival of the Spix’s macaw, the most endangered parrot in the world.

Native to the Caatinga region (Curaca, Bahia) in Brazil, the species is extinct in the wild and as per statistics updated on November 1, 2012, just 79 were left in the world – all in captivity – with Al Wabra holding 60 (79%), comprising 24 males and 36 females.

With a far reaching vision of reintroducing the Spix’s macaw to the wild, Sheikh Saoud purchased in 2008 the 2,380 hectare Concordia Farm, in the Caatinga near the town of Curaca, where the species was last seen.

The farm was used as the field base for the Spix’s macaw recovery efforts in the 1990s and still boasts the tree nesting-hollow used by the last known wild pair back in the 1980s.

Qatar, Iran rival to make Prophet Mohammed movies

Movie makers from Iran and Qatar are competing  for a new movie depicting the life of holy Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) both the countries are  racing to bring the movie to the big screen.

The Qatari production is set to be shown as a series of films aiming to target a worldwide audience. With a spending budget of $1 billion, the movie is funded by Qatar-based Alnoor Holdings. The film’s production will be led by Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradwai to ensure that events in the movie are parallel to the Quran.

“They are being understandably very cautious," said The Lord of the Rings producer Barrie Osborne, who was hired as the project advisor.

Now, Iranian director Majid Majidi is competing with Qatar’s production, beginning to film another story of the Prophet in October, with a set budget of $30 million.

The character of the Prophet will be shown in Majidi’s production; his figure shown without revealing his face.

However, it is unlikely that the prophet’s figure will be shown in the Qatari production, in accordance to Sunni Islamic laws stating prophets cannot be depicted on screen or in print.

Last year, protests swept the Muslim world in September following the release of the U.S. produced movie, Innocence of Muslims, which depicted the image of Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer.

Following the protests, the United Arab Emirates held an event in Dubai, as part of global campaign, named “The True Message of the Prophet,” involving a group of young Muslims offering roses with a message of “peace and good manners” inspired by the sayings of Prophet Mohammed.

Similar initiatives were seen across the Arab world as a backlash to the film they deemed offensive.

Qatar Rail bags Visionary Project of the Year Award

DOHA: Qatar Railways Company, the organisation overseeing the construction of an integrated railway network, received the ‘Visionary Project of the Year Award’ at the 6th Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum in New York City recently, a press statement said yesterday.

Organised by CG/LA Infrastructure, the forum focuses on infrastructure projects locally, regionally, and globally and identifies real opportunities in the dynamic global infrastructure market.

“Qatar Rail is one of a number of transformational projects that aim to continue the progress of Qatar through the National Vision 2030, the Qatar National Strategy, the Qatar National Development Framework 2012-2032 and the Transport Master Plan for Qatar,” Saad Al Muhannadi, CEO of Qatar Rail, said.

He added: “The State of Qatar has a very clear vision and strategy for the future of the country; at Qatar Rail, we support the four pillars of this national vision: Economic, social, human and environmental development, including the significant benefits of reducing congestion and emissions and leading to more efficient movement of people and goods.”

He said the integrated rail system will be an essential part of Qatar’s urban infrastructure and will be recognised as one of the most successful, safe and environmentally-friendly railway systems in the world.

‘Made in Qatar’ coach unveiled by Mowasalat

DOHA: Mowasalat launched its first bus that was fully assembled in Qatar by the company’s technicians.
The technical team at the Karwa Services Unit (KSU) assembled the 41-seat “Made in Qatar” coach from a complete set of imported spare parts.

This is the first of a series of prototypes being developed by Mowasalat as part of its plans to enter bus assembling and manufacturing industry in a big way.

The company is working on a project to establish a large-scale facility in Oman to assemble buses for the Arab and GCC markets.

“This marks a major achievement for us in terms of technology transfer. We will develop more bus models locally as we prepare to establish our assembling and manufacturing unit in Oman,” Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti, Mowasalat’s Chairman and Managing Director, said in a press conference yesterday.
“We will develop two or three new models every year but we have no plans to assemble buses locally on a large scale,” he added.

He said that the proposed facility in Oman once ready will assemble 2,000 buses every year to meet the requirements of the local and GCC markets.

“We are in the final phase of preparations to establish the facility. We have also plans to enter bus manufacturing industry in a later phase,” said Al Sulaiti.

He said the locally assembled buses are more cost-effective compared to the imported ones.
The first “Made in Qatar” bus has joined the fleet of Mowasalat buses that are available for private hire.
Assembled from Complete Knockdown (CKD) units, the bus offers the same comfort, safety features, stylish looks and versatile body of the imported Karwa buses.

The bus is designed to meet various requirements such as transportation of schoolchildren and company staff, feeder services and for tour and travel.

The bus took shape in-house, with strict inspection and quality checks during assembly, ensuring stability.
The CKD-assembled bus passed test conditions successfully and was rolled out as a new in-house- built coach bus in December last year.