Ana Botella, Madrid’s new mayor, said Tuesday following her swearing-in ceremony that “Madrid’s effort to be an Olympic city has an important place — a commitment that we are renewing with our eyes on the 2020 Games”.
She added, “to accomplish it, no new spending is needed until the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision, because we have already built 80 per cent of the necessary infrastructure”.
Botella said Madrid was already working on reducing its debt at a time when Spain faces tough public spending cuts under the conservative government that took power last week.
She said Madrid’s debt would reach 6.377 billion euros, ($8.3 billion) by the end of 2011 and that she intended to cut 3,112 billion euros by 2016.
Madrid is to submit its bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games by February 25 to the IOC, and the host city vote takes place September 2013. Other candidates for the bid are Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Rome and Tokyo.
