Reuters reports that the Italian government has stepped in to help fill a gap in the budget for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games and Turin 2006’s board of directors met on Tuesday to approve the draft budget. TOROC president Valentino Castellani said in a statement, “by the end of January we will finalize the agreement which will allow us to sign off on the Games budget”.
A final vote on the complete budget of $1.76 billion, which would cover operations through the Feb. 10-26 Games, is scheduled for Feb. 4, reports the Associated Press.
The board also studied a partnership proposal from Sviluppo Italia, a funding group fully owned by the Italian Treasury. The agency linked to the Economy Minister that promotes business development and investment, has signed a letter of intent to provide $204.5 million for the organizing committee. The committee is not allowed to receive money directly from the government to deal with the budget gap.
Mario Pescante, the undersecretary for sport who oversees Turin 2006’s preparations, told Reuters Monday that Sviluppo Italia would cover the cost of temporary structures like prefabricated stands and car parks that were previously due to be paid for by Turin 2006. He said, “it is a sponsorship, it is not state aid”.
