CHINESE-MADE shipping container-style rooms are helping alleviate the pressure on World Cup organizers in Qatar by offering fans a budget accommodation choice.

A village for visiting soccer fans in Doha, with 6,000 such cabins, is targeted at customers on a lower budget. The 3.1-square-kilometer site can house up to 12,000 people and has a metro station, a bus stop, temporary restaurants and a convenience store.

Each cabin is designed to accommodate one or two people, and contains basic furniture, air conditioning, a toilet and a shower. Compared with Qatar’s hotels, the fan village is a relatively cheap option, with each cabin costing around US$200 a night. At a smaller site further out from central Doha, some rooms are priced at US$80 each.

The commute between the fan village and the nearest World Cup venue, Al Thumama Stadium, takes approximately 20 minutes by car.

According to China Central Television (CCTV), the container-style cabins are made in China, mostly by factories in Guangdong and Zhejiang. Chinese companies have provided about 10,000 cabins to Qatar World Cup organizers.

“The components of the cabins were shipped to Qatar and then local workers assembled the cabins. It only took about four hours for two or three experienced workers to finish assembling each cabin,” said CCTV reporter Zhao Yuanfang.

“It’s pretty hard to book a hotel room in Qatar. Many of the rooms were booked even a year before, most of which are occupied by the players, officials and volunteers,” said He Sheng, a fan from Guangzhou. “I also heard about the US$200 cabin. But my final choice was an apartment, which is more convenient for me as I will stay here until the end of the tournament.”

Omar al-Jaber, head of accommodation at Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for the tournament, said most fans still preferred hotels, apartments or villas. The high cost and scarcity of hotel rooms have been major concerns for fans in Qatar, where there are 130,000 rooms available per day.

Organizers in Doha have also offered accommodation in camps and on ships. Some fans stay in neighboring countries and fly in for games. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is welcoming fans who travel to Qatar to watch the games.

(China Daily)