‘Bubble in a bubble’: The artificial island Qatar built for wealthy foreigners

“If Qatar is a bubble inside the world, İnci is a kind of bubble inside Qatar.”

The phrase comes from British Siobhan Tulley, resident of the ostentatious artificial island that Qatar built for wealthy immigrants.

The streets of A Pérola do not appear in the Persian Gulf: its structures imitate buildings in Mediterranean Europe. But since the island was built in 2006 they are all brand new and they mix styles from different countries almost like a theme park.

There are Spanish-style squares, canals and Venetian buildings. Roundabouts decorated with fountains are walkways where sports cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars pass. The island’s bays are surrounded by huge buildings of more than 20 floors with swimming pools and even private beaches. There are structures imitating the Arabian building style in the Porto Arabia marina.

Various nationalities, ostensibly much more Western than the rest of the country, revel at night in sidewalk cafes and bistros.

Here are scenes that are not uncommon in other neighborhoods of Doha, such as a group of Saudi girls walking into a covered Lebanese restaurant and discovering all their hair a few minutes later. In the marina, women wear low-cut, open shoulders and short skirts. The island also has the country’s highest concentration of hotels and bars serving spirits.

4 million m² rescued from the sea

Pearl is the flagship project of United Development Company, Qatar’s leading public construction company. The island was made artificially and “taken” from the sea about 4 million m².

It was the first urban project to allow immigrants to buy real estate in Qatar. Currently, 25,000 settlements and 33,000 people live on the island.

A one-room “studio” style apartment costs US$300,000 (R$1.6 million) and a five-room house with sea view costs over US$12 million.

Fifteen million tourists a year visit this area, which is home to restaurants, luxury hotels – one of which hosts a selection of the USA – shopping malls, bars, cinemas and other entertainment facilities.

Oasis for wealthy immigrants

Siobhan and Ian Tulley are a British couple who have lived in Qatar for seven years, six and a half years at The Pearl. He’s English, he’s Scottish.

Both work for the health sector and live in a building in Viva Bahriya, a cluster of 30 tall towers arranged in a semicircle around the beach.

“When we got here, there was almost no service nearby, but it soon filled with restaurants, cafes and shops. It’s nice to not have to walk and drive so much,” says Siobhan.

Doha is a modern city with huge streets with several lanes. Except for a few streets, squares and a few malls, it is not designed for pedestrians and shade and parking are difficult to find. High temperatures for most of the year also do not make walking easier.

‘inspired’ by Mediterranean cities, Pérola is much more walkable.

“We were going to stay here for three years, but now we’ve been here for seven years. We are very happy and feel very safe,” says Siobhan.

Qatar is generally a very safe country. But residents of the country tell BBC Mundo that certain Western behaviors, such as the way they dress, are causing some problems among conservative Qataris. Something more difficult to happen on the island.

The Tulleys enjoy the benefits of the Qatari public sector, which covers some of the couple’s rental costs. Also, Ian takes about 90 days of paid leave a year.

Initially, La Pérola was home to a wealthy immigrant community, mostly from western countries. “But more and more Qataris are coming in. There are royal properties here,” says Ian, showing a giant photo of Emir Tamim bin Hamad al Thani on top of a skyscraper.

Venice streets, private islets…

In the Qanat Quartier, a neighborhood that mimics the famous Italian city, Venezuelan Gustavo Jaramillo says it’s like Venice without a gondola.

The engineer lives with his Venezuelan partner, Sabrina Masciovecchio, in A Pérola, in a tall tower with direct access to the swimming pool and beach.

“Given the current situation in Venezuela, almost everywhere is better, but living in Doha and Pérola is on another level,” Masciovecchio told BBC Mundo.

The couple shows the island to BBC Mundo during a car ride.

“Be careful when shooting here because it’s restricted here,” warns Jaramillo as he passes Isola Dana, one of the latest real estate projects where buyers can buy private islets and build their mansions.

Jaramillo works in the energy industry and has interests in rent, transportation and telephone payments. He spends about 25% of his monthly salary. He saves the remainder almost tax-free.

While we continue to talk about the advantages of living in this country and on this island, we pass in front of a large square building resembling a Renaissance palace.

“This is a kind of super central air conditioning unit. Here at A Pérola, the cold water circulating in the pipes is processed and each building has its own distribution system for this cold water,” says Jaramillo.

“The service is paid separately to Qatar Cool, the company that manages it. It does not include electricity costs,” he explains.

In addition to the Isola Dana and Venice District, the island also includes landscaped neighborhoods with high-rise office districts, sports marinas, residential towers and mansions.

“Bubble Inside Bubble”

When Siobhan Tulley says that Pearl is “a bubble within a bubble”, she talks about the problems plaguing the world, such as the epidemic and the war in Ukraine, and how little they affect the island.

References to these bubbles in Qatar, where Western women can wear bikinis on the beach, come up frequently in conversations with locals and journalists.

The situation is different for poor immigrants. Located on the outskirts of Doha, Labor City welcomes migrant workers from Southeast Asia and East Africa. Access to the site is restricted and monitored by the government, and current reports do not present a pleasant situation.

Critics say this is one of the officials who excludes and keeps the workers secret, while Qatar denies it, saying it is to ensure their safety.

“In our case, we get along well with everyone, but our environment is Latino and Hispanic. We don’t spend much time with local Qataris or Arabs,” explains Jaramillo.

Jaramillo and Masciovecchio also cite the lack of hospitals and schools, which is complicated given that the island only has one entrance and traffic is often congested.

There is a large hospital currently under construction and a number of other developments.

“The worst thing here is the constant drilling work. There’s constant construction going on. Do you see the building is almost finished? They started at the end of September,” says Siobhan.

???????? CWith information from José Carlos Cueto sent to Qatar by BBC News Mundo

– This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-63840980.