2010年9月18日星期六
FIFA inspectors tour Qatar ahead of World Cup vote
DOHA, Qatar (AP)—FIFA inspectors had their first look Wednesday at Qatar’s plans for a high-speed rail network, a 50 million passenger airport and a satellite city being built that will be home to 200,000 people and scores of hotels as it makes its pitch to host the 2022 World Cup.
The infrastructure projects are part of cheap nfl jerseys
$42.9 billion in upgrades the tiny Middle East nation is planning whether or not the country wins the World Cup. Many projects, though, are being sped up to ensure they are ready in time for the tournament and are being promoted to show that the nation—which some have derided as too small to host the event—will have the necessary transit links and adequate accommodations for the hundreds of thousands of visitors.
“We’re moving regardless,” said Yasir Abdulla al-Jamal, who has helped put together the bid. “We are a small country but we have a lot of dreams, a lot of ambitions. We want to change the perception of FIFA and the world that the World Cup can’t be held in a small country.”
FIFA inspectors are in Qatar through Thursday, and on Tuesday they toured a specially designed stadium with a solar-powered cooling system which would be installed in the 12 proposed stadiums. The cooling system is designed to keep temperatures at 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees F) on the field and in the stands, far cooler than the 41 C (106 F) average in June, July and August. It was forecast to reach 44 C (112 F) on Wednesday, according to the BBC.
Qatar’s cooling system is designed to continuously pump cool air into the venues, and Qatar bid committee CEO Hassan al-Thawadi has said the technology can be expanded in the coming years to ensure that fan zones and training sites are also kept cool. Al-Thawadi also promised the Indianapolis Colts jersey
system would be carbon neutral because it depends on renewable energy sources.
Inspectors late Tuesday also watched a local football match at a stadium with an older cooling system which is powered by the country’s electricity grid. Temperatures at the 16,000-seat, Al Saad stadium got down to as low as 19 C (66 F) during the match, according to organizers.
The inspection team includes six delegates, led by Chile Football Federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls. Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the organizing committee for the World Cup in South Africa, is also part of the delegation.
Qatar is the final stop on a tour of nine countries which are bidding to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cups. FIFA’s 24-member executive committee will choose the winners and they will be announced on Dec. 2.
Inspectors did not comment Wednesday and have said very little since the visit began. They also met with government officials and were given a presentation on a massive city that is planned from scratch several kilometers outside the capital Doha. Complete with four skyscrapers, a 1,400-boat marina, 37 residential towers, shopping malls and one of the World Cup stadiums, the Lusail project stretches for 8 kilometers (5 miles) and is expected to be completed no later than 2020. If Qatar is awarded the hosting rights, the city would be home to many of the World Cup visitors.
The high-speed rail network, which reaches speeds of Pittsburgh Steelers jersey
350 kilometers (217 miles) per hour, means that visitors from Bahrain could reach Qatar in an hour.
Inspectors also met with Sheik Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, the minister of Internal Affairs, to discuss security arrangements in Qatar. They also discussed plans for a media venue that would be based in Lusail and is where most of the broadcasters would be based.
订阅:
博文评论 (Atom)
没有评论:
发表评论