Rio Games ramp up infrastructure investment to outstrip London

Rio De Janeiro: Brazil will spend USD 10.8 billion on infrastructure projects for the 2016 Rio Olympics in an effort to ensure South America`s first Games are delivered on time, organisers have announced.

The figure will take the total projected spending for the Olympics to 36.7 billion reais (USD 16.3 billion), exceeding the USD 15 billion cost (at today`s exchange rate) of the 2012 event in London. Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) drew up a list of urgent recommendations to revitalise flagging preparations after Francesco Ricci Bitti, the president of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations sounded the alarm over slow progress. In addition, visiting Rio on March 21, IOC executive director Gilbert Felli had expressed concern at the lack of a detailed budget. Despite the authorities moving to do just that the figure does not include 28 of 52 projects overall as laid down by the Public Olympic Authority (APO). These include the cost of the delayed Deodoro zone in the northwest of the city where 11 municipal facilities are projected to cost 900 million reais (USD 400 million) while the other 17 projects do not yet have a price tag. Rio authorities yesterday afternoon announced tenders were out for the Deodoro complex with construction planned for later this year after Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes stated Wednesday there is now "no room to spare" on the construction schedule. Also yesterday, some 2,200 site workers at the Olympic Park in Barra de Tijuca returned to work following a two-week strike for better pay, organisers said. Wednesday`s move by federal, state and municipal authorities to put infrastructure cash on the table is designed to allay fears that the Games will not be ready on time. With Brazil already having shelved a slew of urban mobility programs which had been slated to coincide with this year`s World Cup, Rio authorities, now investing 25 per cent more than planned in the 2016 event, are anxious to deliver on transport, a sector requiring major overhaul.