Billions being spent on Qatar World Cup

FOOTBALL: Qatar is set to spend $262 billion on the 2022 World Cup, the country's finance minister has revealed. Ali Shareef Al-Emadi said yesterday the Middle Eastern nation was spending $655 million every week on major infrastructure projects for football's biggest tournament. He said that spending could go on until a year before the tournament. "We are spending close to $US500 million per week on capital projects,” Al-Emadi said. "And this will carry on for the next three to four years to achieve our goal and objective of really getting the country ready for 2022.” The finance minister said the spending was not only on stadiums but also on infrastructure such as roads, a new airport and hospitals. "Ninety per cent of the 2022 contracts have already been awarded,” Al-Emadi said. "That doesn't mean the stadiums only, we are talking about highways, rail, ports, airports - those are really under way, even hospitals and everything.”