Experts   forecast   600,000 tourists going to Brazil for the games, which could bring in an additional €1.97 billion for the Brazilian travel industry. Around  three million Brazilian tourists are expected to travel Around    three    million    Brazil-ian  tourists are expected to travel throughout  the country as  well, potentially  generating  an additional €2.6 billion for travel and  tourism. The figures were announced by Ricardo  Gomyde,  special  advisor  to Brazil’s Ministry of Sports.On  the  expenses  side,  FIFA  estimates  that  Brazil  will  have  to  spend at least €3.95 billion to get ready for the World Cup, though infrastructure improvements  are  expected  to  cost much more than that. During the Pan American Games of Rio de Janeiro in 2007, the government estimated costs associated with the games to come in at R$500 million, or €254 million. Final estimates before the games were €1.8 billion substantially.

 

Recently, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said that there were concerns about  preparations for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, adding he was taking action personally and will meet the government in early 2012. “The executive committee  is  worried  about  that,”  he said when asked about preparations for the showpiece tournament, which have been dogged by fears they are running behind  schedule.  The  world  footballing body said it had received positive news about   stadium   construction,   but   not about the necessary governmental guarantees on the organisation of the event. “We  are  concerned,”  said  Jerome “We  are  concerned,”  said  Jerome Valcke,     FIFA     secretarygeneral.  “Clearly  Brazil  is not  advanced  in  preparations  for  the  World  Cup,” he  said,  citing  a  lack  of infrastructure  including  a new airport and poor public transport and roads.

 

According to a report by the Getulio Vargas Foundation and the consultancy,  Ernst  &  Young,  Brazil  needs  more than  €8.6  billion  in  investment  to  fix roads,  boost  hotel  capacity,  reinforce security and develop its telecommunications network ahead of the Cup. Late  last  year,  FIFA  warned  Brazil anew about delays in construction projects  expected  to  be  ready  for  the quadrennial extravaganza.Brazilian  authorities  are  racing  to build or renovate 12 stadiums in time for the event, and Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo pledged earlier this month that
work  on  the  venues  will  largely  be completed ahead of schedule.

Footballer-turned-politician  Romario  has  recently  issued  a  new  attack  on Brazil’s preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup stating the country won’t be “100% ready” to host the tournament. The legendary Brazil forward, who is now a federal Congressman for the Socialist Party, has been a vocal critic of both the local organising committee and  FIFA.  Romario  has  said:  “I  think that  (Brazil)  won’t  be  100%  ready.

Of  the  12  stadiums  (that  are  to  stage World  Cup  events)  maybe  10  will  be ready. As to work on public transportation, none of the cities involved will be able to complete it fully.”Romario’s  latest  comments  come after Brazil’s Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo  played  down  concerns  over  the country’s  preparations  for  the  2014 FIFA  World  Cup  late  last  year,  stating that the tournament could be staged in two months’ time if necessary. Rebelo had  said  that  the  Beira-Rio  in  Porto Alegre  is  the  only  stadium  out  of  the 12 set to host the World Cup that has fallen   behind   schedule.   Meanwhile, Rebelo  maintained  Brazil’s  wider  infrastructure will be able to cope with the World Cup, citing the huge mobilisation of people during carnival season as an example of its major event prowess. “People might think that I’m exaggerating,  but  my  impression  is  that  if Brazil had to organise the World Cup in two months’ time, we would be ready,” Rebelo  had  told  the  government-run NBR  channel.  “We  can  do  everything which is planned for the World Cup.” Brazil’s  President,  Dilma  Rousseff , is confident Brazil can deliver the stadiums on time. Ms Rousseff  has promised  the  new  stadiums  and  other  infrastructure  required  would  be  ready on time, despite major difficulties and delays. “Investing in infrastructure is a way  of  saying  no  to  the  international crisis  aff ecting  countries  in  the  Eurozone and the US,” Ms Rousseff  said.

 

Brazil   is   setting   aside   hundreds of  millions  to  update  its  stadiums,  including the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro which hosted the 1950 World Cup final. That money will be spent in several areas as Fifa’s inspection report has identi-fied 18 grounds with more than 40,000
capacity  that could  host  games.  These could be whittled down to nine or 10 in time for the big kick off  in 2014. The CBF estimates that the cost of construction and remodelling of stadiums alone will be, approximately, over R$1.9  billion  (€800  million).  In  addition to the stadium upgrades and renovations,  there  will  be  millions  more spent on basic infrastructure needs to get the country ready. When   informed   of   the   decision to  host  the  tournament,  CBF  President  Ricardo  Teixeira  said:  “We  are  a civilized  nation,  a  nation  that  is  going through  an  excellent  phase,  and  we have  got  everything  prepared  to  receive adequately the honour to organize an excellent World Cup.”

“Over  the  next  few  years  we  will have   a   consistent   influx   of   invest-ments.  The  2014 World    Cup    will enable   Brazil   to have    a    modern infrastructure,” Teixeira  said.  “In social  terms  will  be  very  beneficial. Our objective is to make Brazil become more visible in global arenas,” he added. “The World Cup goes far beyond a mere  sporting  event.  It’s  going  to  be an  interesting  tool  to  promote  social transformation.” - He failed to add that it  was  a  very  expensive  promotion  of ‘social transformation’. In August of 2009 the state airport management agency Infraero unveiled a  R$  5.3  billion  (€2.3  billion)  investment  plan  to  upgrade  airports  at  ten of the venue cities, increasing their capacity and comfort for the hundreds of thousands of tourists expected for the Cup.  A  significant  amount  (55.3%)  of the  money  will  be  spent  overhauling the  airports  of  Sao  Paulo  and  Rio  de Janeiro.  The  investment  figure  covers works to be carried out up to 2014. The  Brazilian  federal  government has earmarked R$3 billion (€1.8 billion) for investment in works relating to the 2014 World Cup. According to the Brazilian  minister  of  cities,  Márcio  Fortes, the  bulk  of  funds  should  go  to  works pertaining to the tournament itself. The  minister  has  also  said  that preparations  for  the  World  Cup  already include the creation of a line of
financing  for  renewing  the  bus  fleet across  the  country.  The  line  will  be made  available  by  the  Brazilian  Federal  Savings  Bank  with  total  funds  of R$1 billion (€600 million). Brazil’s   federal   government   announced in May 2010 that it will grant tax  breaks  for  the  construction  and refurbishment of the stadiums for the 2014 World Cup. In a note, the Minis-try  for  the  Treasury  said  that  it  shall be “Granting tax exemption to the stadiums  of  the  World  Cup,  which  shall not  need  to  pay  Industrialized  Products  Tax  (Imposto  sobre  Produtos  Industrializados  -  IPI),  Importation  Tax (Imposto de Importação - II) or social contributions (PIS/COFINS).” In addition, the 12 cities that shall be  hosting  the  World  Cup  matches shall be able to grant exemption from State Value Added Tax (Imposto sobre Circulação  de  Mercadorias  e  Serviços -  ICMS)  on  all  operations  involving merchandise  and  other  goods  for  the construction  or  the  refurbishment  of the stadiums.

In  September  2009,  the  Brazilian Development Bank (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social -BNDES) opened a credit line of R$ 4.8 billion (€2.7 billion) for the World Cup stadiums. Each host city shall be able to finance up to R$400 million (€225 million)  or  75%  of  the  project,  with bank funds.The World Cup is going to be massive. Brazil, with its history in the game and  love  for  the  sport  will  put  on  a spectacular show – and probably create as much drama off  the field as on, with politicians and prominent figures already  being  accused  of  underhand dealings. The World Cup 2014 will be the carnival of all time.

 

 

R io de Janeiro will host the firstever  Olympic  Games  in  South America    August-    September 2016. The event will generate numerous  trade  and  investment  opportunities  in  several  areas,  for  both  the games and the city. The state government of Rio de Janeiro estimates that investments until 2016  will  reach  €39.5  billion  for construction  of  sports  and  transportation  infrastructure,  public  security, education  and  training,  etc.  Although more than half of Rio’s Olympics venues  are  already  built,  since  Rio  hosted  the  2007  Pan  American  Olympic Games, about 20 new facilities are set to be constructed.

 

Works include:
•  An aquatic sports stadium, a permanent   structure   with  18,000   seats. Its  construction  cost  is  estimated  at €31.6 million;
•  An Olympic Park that will host gymnastics,  cycling,  handball  and  other sport competitions. It is estimated to cost approximately €158 million;
•  An Olympic village with 32 buildings 12 story buildings (with over 17,000 beds)  -  estimated  to  cost  approximately €360 million;
•  A  tennis  Olympic  Centre  with  16 courts (€35.5 million);

•  A rowing stadium at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon (€1.6 million to renew the stadium  built  for  the  Pan  American Games);
•  An  arena  in  Copacabana  Beach  for Beach  Volley  (€5.5  million);  and  - The renovation of Maracanã Stadium (Opening    and    Closing    ceremonies of  the  Olympics  and  soccer  games): €316 million.

The  Organizing  Committee  for  the Olympic  and  Paralympic  Games  Rio 2016  is  in  charge  of  Games  planning and  operation.  For  that,  the  Organizing Committee relies on a budget of €2.45  billion  that  was  approved  by the  International  Olympic  Committee
(IOC).  The  organizing  Committee  in-tends  to  have  the  full  budget  funded by private organizations, but the three levels  of  government  –  federal,  state and municipal - have assured the IOC that they will cover any funding need the Organizing Committee may face.
Rio  2016  spokesperson  Bernardo Domingues said, “The expected gross economic  impact  of  the  2016  Games on  the  Brazilian  economy  is  €40.1 billion,  according  to  a  University  of São Paulo study commissioned by the Ministry of Sport.” Major  infrastructure  works  for  the Olympics 2016 are sprouting like mush-rooms  in  Brazil,  generating  millions  of jobs and drawing more than €46.9 bil-lion  in foreign investment in 2011. But this thrust has failed to sustain economic growth,  which  according  to  the  latest projections is below three percent. The  stagnation  of  industry,  which only  grew  0.4  percent  between  January  and  November  2011,  according to  the  Brazilian  Institute  of  Geography and Statistics (IBGE), is one of the main  reasons  that  GDP  is  growing  at only  one-third  of  Argentina’s  growth rate, or half of Peru’s. But the industrial figures are in stark contrast with the dynamism  of  the  construc-tion  industry.  Buildings  are proliferating  all  over  Brazil, and  yet  house  prices  have doubled  or  even  tripled  in the last three years in many
cities, like Rio de Janeiro and Recife,  further  spurring  the construction boom as well as fears of a real estate bubble. “Minha  casa  minha  vida” (My  House,  My  Life),  a  public housing programme launched by the government in 2009, is funding  the  construction  of three  million  affordable  housing  units by 2014, to reduce the housing deficit estimated at 5.5 million units last year by  the  Cities  Ministry  so  despite  the house pricing rises, things are improving  for  the  poor.  In  saying  all  of  the above,  it  is  as  though  Brazilians  have
just discovered an urgent need to develop efficient logistics and energy infrastructure. To be fair, with the beaches, jungles, carnivals, sport events and a huge rise in the country’s global status and financial power everyone was probably a little distracted. ■