Qatar to spin off huge jobs
Qatar plans mega-infrastructure for the World Cup Football in 2022, and Bangladesh sees huge job opportunities for its workers there.
"Qatar is going to build 12 stadiums and some five-star hotels for the World Cup. This will require lakhs of workers, and we can surely tap the opportunity for our workers," said Begum Shamsunnahar, joint secretary of the overseas employment ministry.
Shamsunnahar, who recently held a formal meeting with Qatar's labour ministry officials in Doha, said the country is doing its homework now to start construction in a year from now.
"We said we have almost all categories of workers -- professionals, skilled and semi-skilled for the construction sector," she told The Daily Star.
Qatar's officials said they would require a huge pool of workers, but suggested the workers who intended to go to Qatar for jobs should have good orientation about the laws and culture of the Middle Eastern oil-rich country.
Shamsunnahar said Qatar, where around 1.5 lakh Bangladeshis work now, is a good job market for its better labour standards.
The officials of the Middle East country, however, could not yet specify the number of foreign workers it would be hiring for the mega-projects, she said.
Maqsudur Rahman, first secretary of Bangladesh embassy in Doha, said the Qatar authorities are yet to reveal the plans of the mega-projects. "Once they make it open, we shall surely try tapping the scope," he said.
Recruiting agencies said, though there are a lot of job opportunities in Qatar, the Bangladesh mission there has not been effective in dealing with the labour issues.
"Our mission in Qatar has to know in details the workforce and their categories required. On the basis of that, we have to negotiate with the employers," said a recruiting agent.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) Secretary General Ali Haider Chowdhury said the government must take the private sector into cognizance and launch joint efforts to tap the opportunity.
"Baira, as a trade body, has to start interaction with the companies, which will possibly construct the infrastructures, and the government has to facilitate us," he told The Daily Star. "Our competitors will not sit idle," Chowdhury said.
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