Rio Olympic Park Dismantling Delayed

(ATR) Rio City Hall tells Around the Rings it has extended deadlines to dismantle the Olympic Aquatics Center and the Future Arena, leaving both temporary structures in limbo in the Olympic Park.

A city hall spokesperson says that the deadline for dismantling by the concessionaire Rio Mais was extended one year. Each structure remains in place in the Barra Olympic Park, and media reports have suggested the buildings look "abandoned".

The Aquatics Center’s pool and warm up pool had already been dismantled and transferred to an army base near Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio. The city hall spokesperson said the warm up pool will remain dismantled until a destination is agreed "between the city of Rio, the Ministry of Sports and the Army".

The fate of the Future Arena remains uncertain due to a lack of funds to execute the legacy intended for the venue. Future Arena featured handball and goalball competition during the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, and was designed to be dismantled into four schools after the Games.

Rio City Hall previously told ATR that the project was up for review and could not guarantee the schools would be built. Now, the spokesperson says that the municipal government has been searching for funds since the new administration took over in January.

The spokesperson added that dismantling the Future Arena is not a priority for the municipal government, as it was attempting to secure funding to finish 30 "schools of tomorrow" left uncompleted by the Paes administration.

"Although the dismantling of the structure was already foreseen since the project was conceptualized, the old management did not allocate resources for the execution of the services in the Annual Budget Law of 2017," the spokesperson told ATR. "With the budget constraint, and the deficit identified on the first day of government, the city has been studying economic and financial mechanisms to carry out the dismantling of the Arena.

"There was also no budget allocation for the assembly of schools foreseen in the initial project. With this, the viability of this initiative is still being evaluated."

Rio City Hall did not return request for comment on an update to the Deodoro Olympic Park. Municipal officials expected the park to be open in September after negotiations with an operator. The city had secured a contractor to clean the park, which had been in a state of abandon after losing its operator in December 2016.

Written by Aaron Bauer

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.