Qatari company Daruna signed an agreement today to build a 6,000-bed labour camp in the Al-Wakra area.

The facility will be a high-quality living accommodation, said Daruna’s chairman, Sheikh Nasser bin Abdulrahman bin Nasser al-Thani. He said the company hopes to sign another four or five deals with landowners in the coming months to develop more labour camps.

The company expects to build facilities with up to 80,000 beds for labourers working on World Cup and infrastructure projects on a build operate transfer (BOT) or build own operate (BOO) basis, where camps are leased to contractors.

The first camp in Al-Wakra, which will be completed within 18 months, will be like a small town, and include a range of facilities, including retail outlets, communications and a police station. “Everything is going to be available…to live a good life.”

Speaking at MEED’s Qatar Projects conference in Doha today, he said the camp would provide better welfare for labourers living in Doha. Standards would be improved by working with key partners.

Describing the planned camps as the “next standard” for the region and the world, he said “We are going to monitor the quality [of conditions in camps]. We are going to guarantee the quality as we are the owners…. and we are going to monitor our partners.”

Poor accommodation is the main complaint of labourers in Qatar, followed by late or partial wage payment, according to a representative of Amnesty International Nepal.

“Basic, minimum conditions can change and improve, and we welcome senior Qataris discussing the issues,” the official told MEED. “Workers employed directly are in OK conditions, but the workforce supply chain is a huge problem. Supply companies often have the worst standards of accommodation and wage payment, and can pressure workers not to complain due to the exit permit system.”

Daruna wants the camps to be of a standard where anyone could walk in and be happy with the conditions, and in an exclusive interview with MEED on the sidelines of the conference, said he was open to them being inspected by external parties.

He said poor conditions in labour camps was a worldwide issue and not one solely faced by Qatar. But he admitted it is “one of the biggest issues facing the country today. Because most of our workforce is migrants this is an issue that has been raised. “

He added “Every country has good and bad facilities. In the Middle East there is a problem, but maybe because the biggest portion of workers are migrants it is seen in a more focused way. We are going to be the starting point for being an example of the standard for workers accommodation.”