THE INSIDE VIEW

‘People don’t know where Qatar is,’ says Brad Habana, the South African who is part of the commercial team for the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, an agency ensuring that infrastructure created for Doha’s World Cup has lasting impact. Part of the role

of the tournament, he says, is to put the country on the global map; and part of the committee’s role is making sure it’s not only a smooth and successful tournament, but is remembered for the

right reasons.

Brad believes that winning the tournament bid has genuinely contributed to Qatar’s development. ‘It’s possibly the first time this has happened on the back of the World Cup… We’ve done lots of infrastructural work ahead of the games,’ Brad says. ‘The underground Metro opened in 2019 and the network will get you anywhere in Doha

for two Qatari rial – about R10.’ The seven-lane highway from Doha to

the city of Mesaieed is another completed project; two years ago this marvel of engineering that leads to the dunes where desert safaris are conducted, didn’t exist at all. Brad says there’s lots for tourists to do that’s not necessarily known. There are whale sharks in the Gulf, just off the coast, plus dugongs you can see on diving

trips, dolphins and sharks, too. Brad’s been in Qatar since 2013; since arriving he says much has changed for the better, including the scrapping of the infamous kafala system that bound immigrant workers to their employers, something that came under fire from

human rights organisations.