The Job Site

Monday, March 18, 2013
I have been at the job site for three days now.  We have a small office, that Steve and I share.  It is a busy place and I am still getting familiar with the project and the different entities involved.  The hospital is called Sidra Medical Center - Sidra means Star or Starlike.  It is located in a new part of Doha called Education City.  Education City is an area that has state-of-the-art training facilities for engineers, doctors, nurses and professionals.  This hospital is the largest in this hemisphere (and they say the world).  I was at a meeting with another client yesterday and he told us that Hammad Medical Center was building the largest hospital in the world soon.  A funny thing I learned - Doha is hosting the World Cup in 2022, and all of these large projects need to be completed for it.  It is very similar to a city/country planning for the Olympics.  On our 10 minute drive to the job site, one can count over a hundred tower cranes across the skyline building numerous structures.

A nice tradition in the office is that each floor of the building has a "floor steward".  This nice young man prepares and serves you coffee or tea in the morning (prepared how you like it), then around 2:00, he comes around again with hot tea and biscuits for everyone.  There are three Pilipino ladies who run the front desk.   They are very quiet and polite, but over the lunch hour, they go into a private conference room and can be heard laughing uproariously.  The men in the office are SOOOO curious about what these women discuss  - they want me to try and infiltrate the group to get the scoop.  I told these nosy men that they were probably discussing the eccentricities of the men in the office.  The British fellows thought this really funny.  

I found out today that I am not allowed to go on the actual construction site without a male escort.  I was expecting something of this nature, but it was presented in a very serious manner.  There are about 10,000 men (mostly Indian and Philipino) working on this site, and they told me it would be “risky” for me to be there by myself.  The job site is protected by armed guards and MAJOR security checkpoints, so it is highly unlikely I would have popped in on my own.  One cannot just “stroll” over there to get a look.  You must have an appointment and be on the master list  for that day.  The protocols are very formal and strict.    The workers are all brought in each morning by bus from their work camp outside Doha.  They all wear the same blue jumpsuit  and their tools and equipment are strictly monitored and counted by the security team.  Apparently, the workers are paid fairly well, have all their meals, laundry, and lodging covered but they do work 6 days per week.  On Friday, their day off, they are bused into Doha for shopping and R&R but most of them stand in line at Western Union to send money back to their homes.

It is a very interesting place and I am getting the hang of living here.  I feel fortunate to have this experience.  More later!