Qatar to hold first national election
Note: This article is from the Guardian.
This article titled “Qatar to hold first national election” was written by Ian Black, Middle East editor, for The Guardian on Tuesday 1st November 2011 15.59 UTCThe Gulf state of Qatar is to hold its first national election for a royal advisory body – another sign that the upheavals of the Arab spring are prompting defensive reactions across the region.
The announcement, by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, signals an important, if largely symbolic, advance for a tiny country whose great wealth has allowed it to punch above its weight internationally, but without so far adopting the democratic standards it advocates for others.
Elections to the country’s Shura (consultative) council are to be held in the second half of 2013, though it is unclear whether it will be given legislative powers. Under Qatar’s 2003 constitution, 30 of the council’s 45 members will be elected and the remaining 15 appointed.
“We know that all these steps are necessary to build the modern state of Qatar and the Qatari citizen who is capable of dealing with the challenges of the time and building the country,” the emir told the council. “We are confident that you would be capable of shouldering the responsibility.”
Qatar has played a big role supporting the Arab uprisings of the last year, especially in Libya, where it was the first foreign government to recognise the Benghazi-based rebels and sent money, weapons and troops to help them.
Al-Jazeera, the Doha-based satellite TV channel that Qatar owns, has acted as a cheerleader for revolutions from Tunisia to Syria while the domestic politics of Qatar have remained more or less off-limits. Until now it has only held municipal elections.
But Qatar’s room for manoeuvre is also constrained by its powerful neighbour Saudi Arabia. Qatar took part in the Saudi-led intervention that crushed pro-democracy protests in Bahrain earlier this year. Bahrain and Kuwait both have relatively developed parliamentary systems.
“The Qataris are making concessions – either because they are genuinely nervous or because they feel they need to make a gesture,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Gulf expert at the London School of Economics. “There is no pressure from Qatari citizens for a participatory opening. But the emir may feel he does not want to be outflanked by other Gulf countries and he thinks this a safe enough way to respond to the zeitgeist of the Arab spring.”
The official Qatar news agency quoted the emir as saying: “We must not only congratulate ourselves on our achievements, but we have to check whether our visions and aspirations are compatible with the expectations and hopes of our peoples.”
Qatar is attuned to its international image, especially after winning the bid to host the World Cup in 2022.
The country’s natural gas riches allow its population of just 350,000 nationals out of a resident population of 1.7 million to enjoy the world’s highest income per head, currently ,721 (£47,000) – and a comfortable cushion against unrest. Even so, in September, the government raised salaries, pensions and benefits for state and military employees by 60%, a move widely seen as an attempt to preserve stability.
Qatar’s responses mirror recent moves by other Arab monarchies to stave off popular unrest. The Saudis have invested billions of dollars in social welfare and job creation schemes while the king of Jordan has sacked two prime ministers and promised more reforms. Morocco is drawing up constitutional amendments to entrench democratic institutions and rights.
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Olympic Village snapped up by Qatari ruling family
Note: This article is from the Guardian.
London’s Olympic Village has been sold to the Qatari ruling family’s property company in a deal that leaves UK taxpayers £275m out of pocket.
Qatari Diar, the oil-rich state’s investment arm, and UK property developer Delancey Estates teamed up to buy the athletes’ village next to the Olympic Park in east London for £557m.
After the 2012 Olympic Games, the village will be converted into a neighbourhood with 2,818 homes, including 1,000 family homeswith three or four bedrooms. The rest of the properties range from studio flats to five-bedroom apartments. The area will also include a schoolwith 1,800 places for children aged three to 19, shops, bars, clinics and parks.
The Olympic Delivery Authority, which sold the site, had already sold 1,379 of the residences in the 11 blocks of the athletes’ village to Triathlon Homes for £268m in 2009. They will become affordable housing such as shared ownership or socially rented apartments.
Qatari Diar and Delancey plan to turn the bulk of their share of the residences – 1,439 properties – into private rental accommodation, rather than selling them. They say this will create the first UK private sector residential fund of more than 1,000 homes to be owned and directly managed as an investment.
At the moment, the apartments in the village do not have kitchens as athletes will eat at dining halls. They will be fitted out for long-term residential use after the games when kitchens will be added and new floors put in. The first tenants are due to move in in late 2013.
The joint venture also acquired six adjacent development plots with the potential for a further 2,000 new homes. The deal includes a profit-share that should provide income to the public sector in future.
Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, hailed the sale as a “fantastic deal that will give taxpayers a great return and shows how we are securing a legacy from London’s Games”. The village cost £1.1bn to build, but the ODA insisted it never expected to recoup building costs. “It was an entirely empty site, it didn’t have any infrastructure, roads or parks. There was always going to be a public sector contribution to help put those in,” said a spokesman.
He added: “We weren’t just looking for the highest bidder, but for the best owner with long-term commitment.” He said the ODA supported the property investors’ plans to turn most of the residences into rental accommodation.
Jamie Ritblat, chief executive of Delancey, said: “This acquisition reflects the first truly great residential investment opportunity in the UK; offering the chance to break the mould and create a sustainable leasing model to provide first class accommodation for those who see the chance to rent long-term, as the way forward.”
The ODA had to dip into the Olympic contingency fund and use £324m of public funds after a private developer, Lend Lease, failed to put forward a funding package in 2009 due to the financial crisis. That money will now be repaid to the Olympic budget out of the village sale proceeds – this has been uncertain during the economic downturn.
Qatari Diar already owns the Chelsea Barracks site, which it bought from the Ministry of Defence in 2007, and it will redevelop the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, as well as the Shell Centre on the South Bank.
The Qatari property developer has been embroiled in a high-profile row over the £3bn Chelsea Barracks scheme, which recently received the green light two years after Prince Charles intervened over plans for the 13-acre site. In June 2009, the developer withdrew its planning application after the Prince of Wales wrote to its chairman, the prime minister of Qatar, saying his “heart sank” when he saw the modernist design by Lord Rogers.
Qatari Diar’s then-partner, the CPC Group owned by the Monaco-based property developer Christian Candy, launched a high court action to claim £81m in compensation after the scheme’s collapse. The architects behind the revised plans are Dixon Jones, Squire and Partners and Kim Wilkie.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010
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