By Andrew Warshaw
June 19 – Days after announcing that that its 2018 World Cup budget was likely to double to over $20bn, Russia has provided more details of how the money will actually be spent.
The infrastructure programme consists of some 292 facilities including 12 stadiums, 113 training sites, 62 hotels, 11 airports, communal and transport infrastructure, electricity, IT and communications infrastructure.
Vitaly Mutko, Russian Sports Minister and Chairman of the Russia 2018 LOC, explained:
“A colossal amount of work has been carried out to prepare for this infrastructure programme. There are no other programmes of its kind. Over 1,000 proposals have been studied”
“The results of this work have been used to develop an optimal scenario for infrastructure preparations, according to which we selected only those facilities without which such a major tournament could not be held. These facilities are capable of bringing maximum returns on investments in the long term, and leave a 2018 FIFA World Cup legacy that will contribute to regional development and the economic growth of the country.”
Just over half the budget will be provided by federal funding, thre majority of which will be spent on preparing sporting and transport infrastructure facilities, as well as on the provision of security. Regions hosting the matches are investing, overall, 101.6 billion rubles from their regional budgets.
This leaves an additional 226.3 billion rubles to be raised from “non-budget sources”. Private investor funds are expected to invest primarily in the building of new hotels and modernisation of airport complexes in the host cities.