Road to Brazil 2014 - Stadia Delays; Airports Behind Schedule; Countdown Clock Stops

(WFI) With less than five months until the completion deadline for the last six Brazil World Cup stadia, new images issued by FIFA indicate that some of them are unlikely to be finished on time.

FIFA posted photos of the venues under construction on its website. Building work is taking place at Arena de Sao Paulo, Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba, Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Arena Amazonia in Manaus, Estadio das Dunas in Natal and Estadio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre.

Six World Cup stadia were used at the Confederations Cup last month. The Brazilian government has set a 31 December deadline for completion of the other host venues.

But FIFA’s stadiums update shows that several of the cities will struggle to deliver their stadium projects by that date. In particular, stadia construction in Cuiabá and Curitiba looks to be behind schedule.

Click here to view the photos.

Construction issues also delayed the opening of several of the half dozen Confederations Cup stadia causing headaches for FIFA ahead of the World Cup warm-up tournament.

Test events must be held at each venue before the June 12 kick-off in Sao Paulo.

Countdown Clock Still Shows 365 Days!

Six weeks after FIFA and Brazil World Cup organisers unveiled the World Cup countdown clock on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach, it remains stuck on 365 days.

FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke, Brazilian sports minister Aldo Rebelo and Pele were among the dignatories at the unveiling of the Hublot Countdown Clock as part of year-to-go celebrations on June 12.

Despite the clock still showing 365 days to go for more than a month and the Pope's high-profile visit last week, there has been little attempt to fix the problem.

Brazil 2014 organisers said they were aware of the issue. "The company in charge of maintaining the clock will fix the technical problem soon," they said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press.

The month-long 2014 World Cup opens on June 12 in Sao Paulo.

Airports Construction Delays

Renovation and expansion projects for Brazil’s airports to serve the World Cup are behind schedule or have not even started.

Folha de S.Paulo reports that 10 of the revamps are less than one-third complete. Preparations are said to be progressing at a slow pace in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Cuiabá, Fortaleza, Curitiba and Natal.

Infraero, the state agency operating the country’s commercial airports, is failing to keep six of these projects on track, the newspaper reports.

Building of a new terminal project at Confines airport in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais has been suspended due to a change in the bidding requirements for the contract; instead a temporary terminal is to be constructed.

In Porto Alegre work to expand the port city’s airport terminal and runway hasn’t even begun, Folha said.

Rio’s airport revamp is also said to be delayed. And Folha claimed that airport projects handed to private companies in Brasilia, Campinas and Guarulhos may also not be finished by the government deadline of May 2014.

By INSIDER editor Mark Bisson

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