Rio Opens New Public Marina

(ATR) Renovations at the Marina da Gloria are complete, leaving Rio organizers just over three months to get it Olympic ready.

The renovations were done by the company BR Marinas amid environmental controversies from activist groups. To build the new marina complex, nearly 300 trees needed to be cleared at the Parque do Flamengo. In July 2015 environmental groups tried to halt construction through a lawsuit stopping work on the venue. Eventually the lawsuit was dismissed paving the way to finish construction.

"I think all those things that happened were a lack of information," Gabriela Lobato Marins, chief executive of BR Marinas, said to Around the Rings. "We did have all the necessary licenses and what we did was cut some trees, which we had to do, just to build. We reopened with more trees than they had before."

BR Marinas spent $18.9 million on the project in private money. Marins called the opening a "big situation," given that it is the first urban public marina in Brazil. She believes that the legacy of the complex extends beyond the sailing aspect, given that the public can enjoy the space and access it for free.

Mayor Eduardo Paes and Sports Minister Ricardo Leyser were on hand to help open the venue. The Rio 2016 organizing committee will assume control of the property on July 13 to prepare for the incoming Olympic sailors.

"This is the Rio marina, the most beautiful marina in the world," Paes said to gathered journalists. "It will be ready not only for the Olympics, but for the city. It is the legacy of the Games."

Paes said that the work needed to finish cleaning the marina and the rest of Guanabara Bay will continue through the Olympics, where he estimated that close to 60 percent of raw sewage flowing into the bay would be treated. He added that it was a "missed opportunity" for the state of Rio de Janeiro to not reach the goal of treating 80 percent of sewage entering the bay, but said the issue affects the entire metropolitan region. On April 15, the state of Rio is expected to install a treatment plant that will prevent raw sewage from flowing directly into Marina da Gloria.

Still, Paes says the Olympics will be unaffected by the water quality. He said that the city has held two test events with little complaints from sailorsand monitoring from the state government and the International Sailing Federation show the waters of Guanabara Bay are safe under World Health Organization standards.

"The bay is a challenge for the city and not for the Olympics," Paes added.

Leyser told ATR that an overlooked aspect of the public marina is the possibility to reduce barriers to the sport of sailing in Brazil.

"If you have a big new public marina there are new horizons to develop sailing in Brazil," Leyser said. "This is important to help provide access to sports for poor people in Brazil, and sometimes you can have the boat, but you don’t have the marina or all the structures to sail. There are some ideas for the future and the use of the Marina."

Marco Aurélio de Sá Ribeiro, president of the Brazilian Sailing Federation (CBV), said the public marina will help establish a competition base that Rio de Janeiro did not have before.

"Previously, Maria da Gloria did not offer space infrastructure to make a sailing competition," Ribeiro said to reporters. "Now we have a fantastic space and this is one of the legacies of the Games. We have partnered with BR Marinas and can carry out any competition, using all the facilities, without any cost to federation. It is a win for us."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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