Works in all Stadiums are delayed
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March 3rd, 2010
On October 30th 2007 (nearly two and a half years ago), FIFA named Brazil as the host country of the World Cup 2014; and on June 1st 2009 (nine months ago), FIFA and CBF announced the twelve host cities of the Cup.
FIFA set March 1st 2010 as the deadline for all hosts to have started the works to build or refurbish the stadiums; today, March 3rd 2010, only three of the hosts have started some works (but not one brick has been laid – see report further below).
A few weeks ago, FIFA expressed preoccupation with the delays in South Africa; “if the World Cup started tomorrow, we wouldn’t be ready”, said Secretary General Jerome Valcke. Yesterday, when celebrating the 100 days countdown to the 2010 World Cup, Valcke declared that “FIFA won’t have with Brazil the same patience they did with South Africa“.
CBF sent a message to all host cities, demanding explanations for the delays. A new deadline was set to start works: May 3rd. CBF said that cities which don’t comply with deadlines may loose their rights to host matches. The deadline for all stadia to be finished continues to be December 31st 2012, six months before the kick off of the Confederations Cup 2013.
Current situation of the stadiums:
Belo Horizonte: works scheduled to start on June 12nd; the Government is still looking for private partners to finance the works.
Brasília: works were scheduled to start in April; however, a case of corruption came out, and the ex-Governor was impeached and is under arrest. Political indefinition will probably cause delays.
Cuiabá: works scheduled to start on March 23rd.
Curitiba: Atlético Paranaense, owner of the stadium Arena da Baixada, estimates that they will need R$ 80 million to adapt the stadium to FIFA demands; now, they are looking for the money.
Fortaleza: works scheduled to April. The bidding process was started in December 2009, contractor to be known late March.
Manaus: Prosecutors required changes in the bidding process; works are scheduled to start in April.
Natal: bidding process to start in April; works to start in June.
Porto Alegre: Internacional, owner of Beira-Rio, claims that some internal refurbishments were already started; however, nothing in the structure was changed. Internacional is claiming tax exemptions to buy construction material to refurbish the stadium.
Recife: works to start in May. According to the local committee, delays were caused by late changes in the project to adapt it to environmental laws.
Rio de Janeiro: the local committee says that sub-soil studies have started on March 1st; clearly, a cosmetic measure to pretend to comply with FIFA deadlines. The bidding for the major works will be launched in April.
Salvador: the bidding process is finished, the contractor is defined, but the Goverment still need money and environment licenses to start the works.
São Paulo: probably (and suprisingly), Morumbi is the stadium with most problems. Neither Sao Paulo FC (owner of the stadium) nor the Governments want to spend money with the stadium. Some changes were made to the project which had been originally approved, but FIFA didn’t like the changes; FIFA President Joseph Blatter said that “Morumbi doesn’t meet the FIFA requirements to stage the opening match of the World Cup 2014“.
July 27th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
[...] the stadium which is not under scrutiny by FIFA and CBF and doesn’t depend on public money is the one which seems to be more prepared to host the [...]