Qatar is to build seven "cities" to house more than a quarter of a million migrant laborers "building major infrastructure and projects for the 2022 World Cup," according to the AFP. Government officials said all seven should be built by the end of '16 and that the largest, "Labour City" for 70,000 people and complete with its own 24,000-seat cricket stadium, "will begin housing workers in the next few weeks." In total, 258,000 workers -- some 25% of Qatar's migrant laborer population -- "will be housed." The cities, a mixture of government and private sector accommodation, "will be built across Qatar, from the fringes of the capital Doha to one in the north." Most "will house around 28,000 workers" (AFP, 5/5). Qatari Labour & Social Affairs Minister Abdullah Saleh Mubarak al-Khulaifi said, "This is a major problem, the Ministry of Labour and Social affairs is facing in Qatar. The huge number, the influx of expat workers, guest workers as we call them, and our delay, nationally, of accommodating properly such a population, I think it was a mistake that we are trying to remedy now." But human rights organizations "accuse Qatar of not doing enough." Besides the "squalid living conditions which are still endured by thousands, its controversial 'Kafala' visa system which has been described as modern slavery needs to be abolished" (EURO NEWS, 5/6).
