Qatar 2022: 15,000 rooms to be made available for visiting fans

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for the 2022 Qatar World Cup has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Governmental Housing and Buildings Department of the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs to offer accommodation for visiting fans at the 2022 World Cup. It underlines Qatar's desire to collaborate with all state institutions in order to ensure that the showpiece event not only delivers to every expectation but also is one which is worthy of the name of the State of Qatar and strengthen its position in the sporting world.

Regarding the agreement, the teams in charge of the initiative will be responsible for evaluating the proposed real estate and choose the suitable ones in line with the residence standards of the Supreme Committee. A total of 150 fully-furnished accommodation units were approved during the first phase of the selection process – the first of 15,000 rooms which will be on offer for visiting guests at the 2022 World Cup.

In a statement, the Supreme Committee announced that contracts valid for five years have been signed with property owners within the Residential Accommodation programme. The contracts are renewable both during and after the World Cup, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. It is also expected that the programme will cover real estate needs for government housing.

SC General Secretary Hassan Al-Thawadi said, “We succeeded in securing thousands of rooms more than two years before the start of the first FIFA World Cup in the Middle East and the Arab world as a result of this cooperation with the Ministry of Administrative Development Labour and Social Affairs, and we are very pleased with this key achievement”

He went to add, “The SC will continue its commitment to work with its local partners to provide sustainable accommodation options in a way that contributes to strengthening the local economy and supporting the continued development of the business sector and Qatar’s preparations to host the tournament”.

Minister of Administrative Development and Labor for the State of Qatar, Yousef bin Muhammad Al-Othman Fakhro added, “We are pleased to complete the first phase of this project and secure thousands of rooms for guests of the State of Qatar. Through cooperation with the private sector, these rooms can be used during the tournament and then leveraged for future government housing needs.

“We will continue to work,” Yousef bin Muhammad continued, “with real estate owners from the private sector and inspect their properties to ensure their compliance with our accommodation standards for hosting visitors and fans during the tournament”.

The two parties signed the memorandum of understanding back in March to increase investment opportunities for private sector owners in the country to offer their properties to visitors during the tournament. Since then, real estate owners in the private sector have been able to sign renewable five-year lease contracts with Ministry of Administrative Development and Labor and the Supreme Committee to support accommodation needs both before and after the event.