The local Al-Khayyat Contracting & Trading has started work on the 10,000-seat Lekhwiya Sports stadium and related facilities in Doha, Qatar.

The first phase of the development will include a 10,000-seat stadium, practice facilities and training area. The first phase is scheduled to be completed by August 2012. The second phase will include a 75-room hotel, multi-sports area, mosque and related sporting amenities.

The stadium will be the home venue for the Lekhwiya Sports Club, the local football team. The complex is scheduled to be used a training base for one of the teams participating in the 2022 World Cup.

The mixed-use sports stadium has been designed by the US-based Perkins Eastman in collaboration with Egypt-based Engineering Consultants Group (ECG), Pieper Sports Facility Consulting and Site Concepts International.

The sports complex is being developed by Al-Khayyat in partnership with the Emir’s Private Engineering Office (PEO).

Qatar is planning to spend upwards of $4bn on building new stadiums and sporting facilities in preparation for hosting football’s World Cup in 2022.

In February, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee appointed US-based CH2M Hill as programme management consultant for the delivery stadiums and sporting facilities for the 2022 tournament.

CH2M Hill will have direct responsibility for the construction of stadium and sporting facilities, and will have a monitoring and supervision role for non-sporting facilities, such as the Fifa headquarters and infrastructure schemes.

The US firm will be in charge of managing the programme to build nine new stadiums and upgrade three existing ones. Each stadium will hold at least 45,000 people, and the Lusail Iconic Stadium, which will be used for opening and final matches, will have a capacity of 80,000 people.