BRAZIL: OLYMPICS - Brazil's Olympic Committee Chief Carlos Nuzman says Rio de Janeiro will need to spend more than expected to host the 2016 Games because of infrastructure gaps

Record ID: 329512

  • Title: BRAZIL: OLYMPICS - Brazil's Olympic Committee Chief Carlos Nuzman says Rio de Janeiro will need to spend more than expected to host the 2016 Games because of infrastructure gaps
  • Date: 28th September 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF NUZMAN SHOWING OLYMPIC PRESENTATION TO REPORTERS
  • Embargoed: 13th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil, Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA55GQBSRZQM3B6FV0B1USMQ0PZ
  • Story Text: Rio de Janeiro will have to spend more than expected to host the 2016 Olympic Games, Brazil's Olympics chief Carlos Nuzman said on Tuesday (September 27).
    The city is focusing on forming partnerships with private firms to complete improvements to stadiums and transportation needed for Brazil's first Games, but set aside plans to sell "Olympic bonds" to private firms.
    Among the Olympic projects already in motion, the overhaul of the city's port area and the Sambadrome are being financed privately.
    Rio bid officials originally said the 2016 Olympics would cost a total of 23 billion reais ($12.8 billion). But the committee said the figure would change because of various alterations to Rio's plans since it won the bid in 2009, adding that a new total should be released by the end of this year.
    In a news conference for correspondents in Rio, Nuzman said Rio's bid could not be compared to London.
    "There is the cost of the Olympic Games itself and the additional costs which have to be spent on the city and country. So we can only measure this (budget) as the organization process unrolls. So that is why I'm saying that we can't compare London to what is going on in Rio," he said.
    The Olympic village and the Olympic Park, where most events will be held, are expected to be constructed through public-private partnerships.
    Work to expand the city's subway system and build new rapid-bus expressways to ease congestion are also underway.
    Nuzman added that all extra spending had been approved by the government and nothing had been questioned.
    "We have submitted accountability reports of everything we do; we always do this. As I have said, the majority of the proceedings have been approved and others are still unrolling and nothing has been disapproved," he said.
    Rio's early Olympic work has been praised by the International Olympic Committee, in contrast to its lagging preparations for the 2014 World Cup that have been criticised by soccer's world governing body FIFA.
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