By David Gold
September 4 – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has launched a blistering attack on the construction efforts for a new stadium in St Petersburg for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The venue (pictured top) was originally meant to be completed by 2009, before Russia won the right to stage the tournament, and costs have escalated to a huge R29 billion (£568 million/$901 million/€717 million) according to reports.
Part of the issue has been that stadium designer, Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, died in 2007 preventing work from beginning until the following year.
A contract with Russian construction firm Transstroi to build the complex – designed to resemble a spaceship (pictured below) and which will be the home of Russian Premier League champions Zenit St Petersburg – expires in November and will not be renewed.
“It’s not just a long build, it looks disgraceful,” said Medvedev, who confirmed that no more public funding would be poured into the project.
Medvedev visited the construction site in 2010 and has noted there has not been any real progress since.
He has said it is now up to authorities in St Petersburg to come up with a funding plan for the venue.
During his visit Medvedev met with Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and Alexey Sorokin, the head of Russia 2018, and was briefed on preparations for the competition.
The stadium, which will hold 68,000 spectators, is now scheduled for completion by 2014, although some reports have said it may be ready only in time for the Confederations Cup in 2017.
It is expected to host matches during the World Cup when FIFA announces the host cities at the end of this month and is in the running to stage one of the semi-finals.
Although the slow progress of the building work will concern FIFA’s Executive Committee when it meets to discuss the host city selection, there is still time to turn around the situation.
For instance, building work on the stadium which will host the opening match of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, São Paulo’s Itaquera, only began last year.
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