Qatar´s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy has reached an agreement with the global Building and Wood Workers´ International (BWI) group for joint inspections of its World Cup 2022 construction sites as well as workers' accommodation.

The BWI represents more than 300 global trade unions for construction workers representing some 12 million members globally.

Qatar World Cup 2022 organisers, under fire over labour conditions, on Tuesday said it will allow international trade union inspections of stadium sites from January next year, according to AFP.

The confederation has been critical of Qatar in the past urging it to stop abuse of workers. Last year it stated that proposed reforms do not go far enough.

The Supreme Committee said the partnership with BWI was a major step and comes as Qatar prepares to dramatically increase the number of labourers working on World Cup projects from around 10,000 to more than 30,000 over the next year.

The inspections will begin in January 2017, stated the report.

Ambet Yuson, BWI´s general secretary, said the agreement was an important step to "ensure workers´ safety on projects directly related to the 2022 Fifa World Cup".

The union and the supreme committee will also form a joint working group that will report on the inspections. These reports will be "independent" and released to the public, said Yuson.