OLYMPICS-RIO/MAYOR Rio Mayor admits he is worried one year before Olympics

Record ID: 145040

  • Title: OLYMPICS-RIO/MAYOR Rio Mayor admits he is worried one year before Olympics
  • Date: 4th August 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) RIO DE JANEIRO MAYOR, EDUARDO PAES, SAYING: "If we feel that Brazil is falling behind we will take the initiative to move forward, we do not want a bad Olympics story. I think it will be good for Rio but it will also be good for Brazil. Brazil isn't all about lack of planning, overpricing and with no commitment to dates and times. There are some st
  • Embargoed: 19th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAJNJWPOA8I56QXGLIV093ZTX5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As Brazil's economy struggles and a huge corruption scandal has engulfed the nation one year ahead of the Games, Rio de Janeiro's mayor has admitted he is a little worried.
    Whilst Rio mayor Eduardo Paes admitted cause for concern in the darkening political and economic climate, he said that Olympic organisers would not fall prey to the gloom.
    "If we feel that Brazil is falling behind we will take the initiative to move forward, we do not want a bad Olympics story. I think it will be good for Rio but it will also be good for Brazil. Brazil isn't all about lack of planning, overpricing and with no commitment to dates and times. There are some straight people, and it is not just us here, there are more out there, including the Federal government," Paes told Reuters on Tuesday (August 4), a day before the official one-year mark.
    The comments follow the problems that plagued last year's World Cup held in Rio de Janeiro and 11 other Brazilian cities.
    Work on most of the stadiums was behind schedule and some of the promised infrastructure and transportation projects were never completed.
    Paes along with organisers of the Games look determined to turn this around.
    The Olympic village is 84 percent complete, and the swimming pool, media centre and the three arenas that will host six indoor events are all more than two-thirds ready, according to numbers released by the Foreign Ministry.
    Among the venues where most work is needed are the velodrome and the hockey pitches, which are only half-way completed.
    Work on temporary venues for the rugby and beach volleyball is still to begin, as are final alterations to the track and field stadium and the Maracana, where the opening and closing ceremonies and the soccer finals will take place.
    A new metro line out to Barra da Tijuca, where many of the events will take place, is on schedule, as are new bus lanes, officials claim.
    The biggest issues now surround water and possibly money. The waters off the Atlantic coast have been filthy for decades and Rio promised to reduce pollution by 80 percent in the bay where sailing, triathlon and open water swimming will take place.
    But independent studies released last week showed dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria and officials admit they will not meet that target.
    Money, meanwhile, is not yet an issue but could be as Brazil's economy stalls. Accentuating matters is a huge corruption investigation known by the code name 'Car Wash' that has put some of the country's biggest construction bosses in jail.
    At least five of the companies are working on Olympic projects and credit lines have dried up as uncertainty swirls around their future.
    "It is one year to the Games, of course I am worried. We are going through political and economic instability in Brazil, which we can't ignore," said Paes.
    City officials told Reuters they have acted like a bank, advancing cash to affected companies in order to prevent a slowdown, but stressed the problems will not affect the 38 billion reais ($11 billion dollar) spending.
    The Olympic Public Authority in charge of the coordinating spending on the games did not respond to questions about how much of total work had been finished but it is almost certainly less than London four years ago.
    Paes said he would only release updated numbers on the anniversary.
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