PARIS.- Six months after Olympic Gamesthe infrastructures for Paris 2024 They are almost all finished and those that are slightly delayed will be finished in time for the July and August event.
An Olympic Village almost ready
The Olympic Village is the largest work of Solideo (the company in charge of Olympic infrastructure), with 2,800 accommodations to offer 14,250 beds.
The official end of the works took place on December 31, although there is a two-month reservation period for the buildings, whose delivery is scheduled by the organizers for February 29, when the functionality has been verified and the problems have been resolved. eventual problems.
Solideo has not been able to avoid some delays in this pharaonic work. The part of L’Île-Saint-Denis, where 500 beds are planned, will not be delivered on March 1 “but a few weeks later”, acknowledged the boss of Solideo, Nicolas Ferrand, in a speech in the French Senate on the 17th. from January.
“But we are not worried,” he pointed out to the parliamentarians, ensuring that 85% of the works were completed on December 31, 2023.
The Olympic Aquatic Center (CAO) advances
Without a doubt the best news for Solideo is that the work on the Olympic Aquatic Center must be completed “before the scheduled date.”
The opening is scheduled for April 19, but Solideo believes it will have the keys “at the end of March 2024.”
“We are doing really well in that, with a building that may be the one that most marks the legacy of the Olympic Games,” they say from Solideo.
It will have 5,000 seats in the stands, in a venue that will host artistic swimming, diving or water polo events. Of them, 2,500 will be in temporary stands and the first tests with water have begun to carry out the corresponding verifications.
No problem with the Arena Porte de la Chapelle
In 2022 there was a three-month delay with the Porte de la Chapelle Arena and the delivery scheduled for mid-2023 was delayed until January 2024. The deadline will be respected.
This room, which will mainly host the badminton competition, is practically finished. “The parquet has been laid and all the stands are installed,” they celebrate from Solideo.
Initially, this pavilion will be used by the city of Paris and will then be handed over to the organizers of the Olympic Games.
A Paris-Basketball match, which will be the resident club of this 8,000-seat venue during the Games, is scheduled at the venue on February 11.
The handover of the keys to the Olympic Games Organization Committee is scheduled for the end of April.
Grand Palais, Colombes swimming pool: tight deadlines
The ephemeral Grand Palais, located at one end of the Champ de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower, is due to host the Olympic judo and wrestling events. The schedule is very tight in that case.
Nicolas Ferrand assured on January 19 that the delivery date to the Olympic organizers, set on April 19, is maintained.
“There has been a very important effort,” he explained, to make the Grand Palais “operational” for the Olympic Games.
Another venue under surveillance in this final stretch is in Colombes, with the pool that must serve as training for artistic swimming. The work must be delivered “at the beginning of June”, according to Solideo. It is an infrastructure that has had “many problems and incidents.”
Source: AFP
