Delays cloud Brazil’s 2014 World Cup preparations
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5SCkqUG-kY
By Paulo Cabral / BBC News Sao Paulo
No one doubts that the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the country of football and the nation of partying, will be memorable. But there are doubts over how well organised it will be.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reacted angrily to concerns voiced by officials from football’s governing body Fifa, after the end of this year’s World Cup, that Brazil was still far from ready to host the tournament in four years’ time.
“There are already people asking where are Brazil’s airports, buses, railways and stadiums? They talk as if we were a bunch of idiots who don’t know what we have to do nor how to define priorities”, said President Lula at the launch of a high-speed train set to link Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
BRAZIL WORLD CUP COSTS
- Total $13bn
- Transport: $6.4bn
- Stadiums $3.2bn
- Airports: $3bn
- Ports: $414m
But the fact is that Brazil does not have much to show more than 30 months after it learned it would host the 2014 World Cup.
There have been severe delays in all 12 cities chosen to stage matches, particularly in the construction of stadiums and upgrading of airports.
Brazil is experiencing one of its best economic periods in decades, so there are resources to carry out the necessary works.
However, there is a lot of red tape to cut through, as well as politics, as most of the investment will be made with public money.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10698973
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