ATR First: Deodoro Still Months From Reopening

(ATR) Rio City Hall officials tell Around the Rings the earliest the Deodoro Radical Park could open is September.

Robert Pinto, a spokesperson for the Rio city sub-secretary for sports and leisure, told ATR that "negotiations are underway for the execution of a cooperation agreement" to run the park. City Hall is negotiating with the Brazilian canoeing confederation as well as "entities representing the BMX and climbing modalities" to run the park.

The Radical Park of Deodoro has been closed since December of 2016 due to a lapse in operation. The previous mayoral administration under Eduardo Paes could not find a new operator before the contract covering 2016 expired. The ongoing Brazilian financial crisis affected the ability for City Hall to find operators for many of the Rio Olympic venues.

Deodoro's Radical Park was supposed to provide miles of hiking trails and a leisure area in the one of the poorest parts of the city. The canoe slalom pool was intended to be reused as a public swimming pool in Deodoro. The pool was open from December 2015 to April 2016 before being re-purposed for the 2016 Olympics.

The Brazilian Sports Ministry is currently operating the Barra Olympic Park and plans to do so through the end of 2018. The ministry continues to work with the Brazilian Social Development Bankto find a private operator. Within the Olympic Park, Rio City Hall operates Carioca Arena 3.

"We are arranging an emergency contracting of lake cleaning and maintenance services," Pinto said.

"At the same time, the hiring of ‘operational support’ services is being processed to meet the demands of the Radical Park and Arena 3. The Secretariat is working with the expectation of having the Radical Park open to the population in September."

In the Barra Olympic Park both the Future Arena and the Aquatics Center are yet to be fully dismantled, a City Hall spokesperson confirmed to ATR. In May, Rio City Hall said that it is awaiting funds from the Federal Government to pay for the dismantling.

The spokesperson told ATR that the "deadline for dismantling will be extended". Neither a date for a planned dismantling nor an estimate of the costs to dismantle the venues was given.

Originally the Future Arena was planned to be converted into four schools after it was removed from the Barra Park. City Hall could not confirm if those plans were still in place, as the administration is currently "studying alternatives to reuse materials" from the arena.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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