The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs H E Abdullah Saleh Mubarak Al Khulaifi (centre) opening Workers Sports Complex in Al Khor Industrial Area yesterday.
DOHA: The first phase of the workers sports complex in Al Khor Industrial Area opened yesterday. The project aims to provide sports and entertainment facilities to about 160,000 expatriate workers based in Al Khor and the surrounding areas.
The sprawling complex is one of a number of entertainment cities and complexes for labourers being constructed in different parts of the country.
The project has been executed by Barwa in collaboration with the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, Qatar Foundation and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.
The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs H E Abdullah Saleh Mubarak Al Khulaifi opened the facility in the presence of Engineer Abdallah Abdul Aziz Al Subai, Executive Chairman of Barwa Group, and other dignitaries. After the opening, the Minister toured the facilities at the complex. A number of workers also turned up for the opening ceremony and took part in various sports activities.
Speaking on the occasion, Al Subai said Al Khor, Dakhira and the surrounding areas have around 160,000 workers and this project will serve them.
Built in 245,000sqm area, the project includes four cricket grounds, four basketball courts and three volleyball courts. The floodlit grounds are suitable for use during night as well. A nominal fee will be imposed on the workers for using the sports facilities.
The complex also has some 35 outlets providing various other services including money exchanges, Internet cafes, telephone shops, barber shops, restaurants, cafeterias and offices of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, toilets, a big supermarket and a mosque.
Al Subai said the first phase of the project was accomplished in a very short period, in just 111 days.
“This project came at the right time to provide the much-required services to workers of the area. Workers will be charged a nominal fee for using the facilities. This is a not-for-profit project but this fee is intended to meet the operational and organisational costs, to make the project run by itself,” said Al Subai. “As workers are our partners, this project is the minimum we can provide them,” he added.
The official said the second phase of the project will include installation of five big cinema screens, beside other facilities including waiting rooms.
Employees of the Qatar Foundation will also use the facilities periodically. “There will be a schedule for this so that the facilities will not be overcrowded,” he added.
In a related initiative Barwa had earlier launched Barwa Al Baraha in the Doha Industrial Area, an integrated city for labourers comprising residential complexes and other amenities. It also has a huge truck parking facility, which was opened recently.
