Qatar 2022: Construction firms accused amid building boom

The 2022 Qatar World Cup is all about money.

Claims that millions of dollars were paid in bribes to secure the world's biggest football tournament for Qatar refuse to go away.

Qatar is spending more than £200bn ($312bn) on a building bonanza ahead of the tournament.

Everyone seems to be getting rich, except those at the bottom of the human supply chain, the migrant worker.

So what is the responsibility of the international companies awarded massive contracts in Qatar?

We have uncovered worrying testimony about pay, housing conditions and safety standards from foreign workers.

They include some employed by subcontractors working for one of Britain's biggest construction firms, Carillion, based in Wolverhampton.

At least eight stadiums are to be built and others will be refurbished for the World Cup.

We were refused permission to film construction at a stadium, so I booked a hotel room to get a look at what is said to be the largest construction site in the world - Msheireb.

It is in the centre of Doha, where there will be shopping malls, apartment blocks and rail links to the stadiums.

At 5am, horns blare and brakes screech as the buses with the day shift arrive.

The shift change is organised with military precision as one gang of workers put aside their tools and climb down the ladders.

Those on the day shift leave the buses in orderly lines, climb up to the recently abandoned positions and start work.

It looks impressive but when I get to talk to the workers, a different picture emerges.

Imran, a 32-year-old from Bangladesh, says he deeply regrets coming to Qatar.

A recruitment agent promised him 1,500 Qatari riyal (£263) a month.

After he has paid for his food, phone and medical treatment for the asthma he says he has contracted since starting work on the dusty site, he has 650 QR a month.

Supporting family
He has to give half of that to the recruitment agency in Dhaka.

"I am supporting elderly parents, my wife and a child," he says.

"I can't send them the money they need.

"I don't want to stay here but I can't leave. The company have my passport."

He adds: "We wake at 4 in the morning, get to work at about 6 and work until 5 in the evening.

"It takes an hour to get back to the camp.

"My room there isn't fit for humans - six of us share and there's no place even to sit and eat."

(BBC)

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