“In Doha, the subway runs without a driver, cars also run along the six-lane highway. Due to the unlimited possibilities, money is the letter Z in the alphabet of problems for Qatar. So it sounds strange that even five years ago addresses did not exist in this fabulously wealthy country. Members of Qatar’s Czech-Slovakian community, with whom I had the opportunity to speak several times during my stay in Doha, said there were no back street names before in Qatar, only major roads had names.
Hitting somewhere or guiding someone to a house was pretty tough. In the days when there were no addresses and navigation was not yet commonplace, funny situations often arose.
‘At the beginning of my stay in Qatar, I drove with a paper map. It wasn’t until a few years later that navigation became popular and locations were posted. There were roundabouts all over Qatar. They functioned as one of the landmarks. Another were family buildings. So when someone walked towards us, I guided them in the style: go straight through the hotel roundabout, and the next one too. And then the second traffic after the gas station. Before addresses were introduced, it was really scary,’ says Zuzana Kvapilová, who has lived in Qatar for twelve years, with a smile.
It was not even possible to receive mail at home. PO Box only. They only started tagging houses and smaller streets in Qatar in 2018. The address consists of four numbers: area, street, building and housing unit.
Qatar is in many ways further away than the Czech Republic. Even in matters that are not affected by high revenues from natural gas and oil. For example, all administrative matters in the country are handled using a single application.
With just a few clicks on your mobile phone, you can change your driving licence, issue a new ID or transfer your car to another person. And all payments to the authorities are made without cash to avoid corruption.”
