The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, speaking on the opening day of a four-day meeting between Brazilian officials and the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) 2016 Coordination Commission, said preparations for the 2016 Games are on track but voiced his lingering concerns about a lack of new hotels.
Paes reportedly admitted Rio had not yet met its target of making available 27,800 hotel rooms by 2013.
He was concerned about a lack of new developments in the neighbourhood of Barra da Tijuca, which will host most of the venues for the 2016 Games.
He said, “as the Games get closer, the deadlines become shorter. But I think that in these next three days we will show that preparations for the Games are going well. The concern is with certain places like Barra da Tijuca, where there is still a deficit of 700 hotel rooms. We already have 14,300 guaranteed but we are aware of the situation and working towards bridging the gap”.
Rio will have 12,000 new hotel rooms by 2015 as outlined in the city’s winning bid for the Games in 2009, said Paes. He added that 90 per cent of Rio’s Olympic budget had been finalized, but declined to estimate the overall cost to Brazilian tax payers.
