AIRLINK 191.84 Decreased By ▼ -1.66 (-0.86%)
BOP 9.87 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (2.39%)
CNERGY 7.67 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (1.86%)
FCCL 37.86 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.42%)
FFL 15.76 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (1.03%)
FLYNG 25.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.28 (-1.09%)
HUBC 130.17 Increased By ▲ 3.10 (2.44%)
HUMNL 13.59 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.67%)
KEL 4.67 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.97%)
KOSM 6.21 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.8%)
MLCF 44.29 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (0.75%)
OGDC 206.87 Increased By ▲ 3.63 (1.79%)
PACE 6.56 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (2.5%)
PAEL 40.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-1.05%)
PIAHCLA 17.59 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.57%)
PIBTL 8.07 Increased By ▲ 0.41 (5.35%)
POWER 9.24 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (1.76%)
PPL 178.56 Increased By ▲ 4.31 (2.47%)
PRL 39.08 Increased By ▲ 1.01 (2.65%)
PTC 24.14 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.29%)
SEARL 107.85 Increased By ▲ 0.61 (0.57%)
SILK 0.97 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
SSGC 39.11 Increased By ▲ 2.71 (7.45%)
SYM 19.12 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.42%)
TELE 8.60 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (4.37%)
TPLP 12.37 Increased By ▲ 0.59 (5.01%)
TRG 66.01 Increased By ▲ 1.13 (1.74%)
WAVESAPP 12.78 Increased By ▲ 1.15 (9.89%)
WTL 1.70 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (1.19%)
YOUW 3.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (2.6%)
BR100 11,930 Increased By 162.4 (1.38%)
BR30 35,660 Increased By 695.9 (1.99%)
KSE100 113,206 Increased By 1719 (1.54%)
KSE30 35,565 Increased By 630.8 (1.81%)

DUBAI: Expo 2020 Dubai, the huge world fair which opened this week, said on Saturday three workers had died and 72 were seriously hurt during six years of construction, defending its accident rate as less than half that of building work in Britain.

Mega projects in the Gulf region such as the Expo, and neighbouring Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 soccer World Cup, have faced international scrutiny with rights groups criticising conditions for low-paid migrant workers.

Dubai, the region’s tourism, trade and business hub, is hoping to boost its economy by attracting 25 million visits to the world fair, which was delayed for a year by the pandemic.

The Expo statement was the first to detail work-related deaths and serious injuries — classified as needing three days or more off work — among 200,000 workers over 247 million work hours. It did specify how or where the three workers had died.

It said the accident frequency rate, a calculation used to measure incidents over a set amount of time worked, was 0.03, compared to 0.07 in the construction industry in Britain as recorded by the UK Health and Safety Executive.

“We are committed to the high standards we have set for ourselves and our contractors and remain firmly focused on working together to continually improve,” Expo 2020 said. Low-paid foreign workers are the backbone of the Gulf Arab economies, taking jobs in construction, services and transport. Expo 2020 Dubai, the first world fair to be held in the Middle East, was built from scratch on 4.3 sq km (1.7 sq mile) of desert and cost around $6.8 billion..

The European parliament last month urged member states not to take part in Expo, citing “inhumane practices” against foreign workers and “systematic persecution” of human rights defenders. The United Arab Emirates rejected the non-binding resolution as “factually incorrect”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, speaking at a press conference at the Expo, said on Saturday France, which maintains a naval base in the Emirates, had not supported the resolution.

Comments

Comments are closed.