Work is finally moving forward on Qatar’s flagship World Cup stadium, with organizers naming the main contractor yesterday.

The Lusail Stadium will be built by a joint venture between Qatari firm HBK Contracting Co. (HBK) and China Railway Construction Corp. (CRCC).

The venue is expected to be completed in 2020 and will host the opening and final matches of the 2022 World Cup.

The committee invited contractors to bid on the stadium in May, asking for work to begin this December.

At the time, it set a maximum bid price of QR2.8 billion (US$769 million). No finalized contract amount has been announced.

Design

British architectural firm Fosters + Partners has been working on the design of the venue, which organizers said was completed earlier this year.

It will be revealed in early 2017, the Supreme Committee of Delivery and Legacy (SCDL) added.

In a statement, Secretary General Hassan Al Thawadi said:

“Lusail Stadium will be the center-piece of our tournament in 2022, and post tournament will become an integral part of the community in Lusail City in the legacy phase.

We look forward to revealing the Qatari-inspired design and detailed legacy plans to the people in Qatar and football fans across the world next year.”

The open-air stadium will be Qatar’s largest, and is expected to seat some 80,000 football fans during the tournament.

It will feature cooling technology like the other seven venues.

The SCDL said that Marafeq has been awarded the cooling agreement for Lusail Stadium, and will provide some 30,000 tons of refrigeration before and during the World Cup.

Lusail City

The under-construction Lusail City is located some 20km north of Doha.

According to the SCDL, the 19-district development will be home to more than 200,000 residents by 2022.

When completed, visitors to the “city of the future” will be able to get around via light rail, water taxi or through a cycle and pedestrian network.

Before then, Qatar is working hard on getting its World Cup stadiums ready.

So far, five tournament venues are under construction: Al Rayyan, Khalifa International, Al Wakrah, Al Bayt Al Khor and Qatar Foundation.

Three more stadiums including Lusail, Ras Abu Aboud and Al Thumama are still in the preliminary stages.

But World Cup organizers said they plan to be “managing eight live construction sites by mid-2017.”

Thoughts?