By Paul Nicholson
December 19 – Russian stadium build for the 2018 World Cup is progressing but not without public assurances from president Vladimir Putin and his officials that money is being well spent and carefully monitored.
Moscow Deputy Mayor Marat Khusnulin said the Luzhniki stadium reconstruction project is under major review to ensure that it is completed according to the budget allocated.
The Luzhniki will host the World Cup opening ceremony and final. Khusnulin said that in the event that the budget is kept, this would be one of the cheapest football stadium reconstruction projects in the world. He maintained that it will also be one of the best arenas in the world.
The new Luzhniki have a capacity of 81,000 and will cost about $700 million to complete. There are currently about 1,500 people working on the construction. The stadium is being reconfigured such that the stands will be re-angled, Construction of the roof works are expected to be completed in spring 2015.
In his national address yesterday, Putin emphasized the longer term benefits of the World Cup for Russian society and the importance of having the sporting infrastructure to encourage participation.
“The World Cup is an expensive thing. A lot of other countries refuse the competition now. But do you know what is the difference between Russia and other countries? In other countries, there are many more people playing sports. This is related to infrastructure in particular. If we want people to live longer, we need to do more sports. Need to do (more sports) so that people are not standing in the queue for vodka, but for the opportunity to ice-skate. Let people spend money to go to the gym, we need to develop their skills,” said Putin.
He also emphasised the legacy of the World Cup and that there will be more children playing football in Russia. “This is an opportunity to develop Russia,” he said.
Meanwhile more details of the Nizhniy Novgorod stadium, expected to be completed in October 2017, and local infrastructure spend were released.
Plans are mow passed for more than 50 building projects for the city including roads, hotels, an airport, a subway terminal and a train station. And of course a new football stadium. The programme costs are estimated at RUB 70 billion ($1.12 billion at today’s exchange rates).
An explosive problem
Building works on the new 45,000-seat Victory Arena in Vologograd were delayed after 10 unexploded bombs from the World War II battle of Stalingrad were found as groundworks began.
The munitions were transported out of the city and destroyed while further searches of the site are being undertaken before the full construction begins,
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