World+Cup+and+Olympics+Preparations

= = As Brazil prepares to host the Olympics and the 2014 World Cup, nothing short of a big improve in infrastructure.A lot is at stake. Brazil hasn't hosted a World Cup since 1950, and this will be the first time a South American city has hosted an Olympics. It will be Brazil's moment in the sun -- an opportunity to show the world that this so-called emerging economy has come of age.About 60 percent of the sports venues are already completed because Brazil hosted the 2007 Pan American Games and built those facilities to Olympics specs. But billions of dollars of sports-driven projects from port renovation and airport overhauls to the construction of major highways, transit systems, stadiums and an Olympic Village complete with a beach are planned. Besides accommodating the influx of fans, athletes and officials, the goal is to leave a lasting legacy for Brazilians. = **Problems** = Many of the Olympics-related projects are designed to fix problems that have festered in Rio for decades: massive traffic snarls, the derelict port area and poor connections between the four areas of the sprawling city that will be Olympic venues.But the double dose of the World Cup and the Olympic Games has provided the incentive to get them done. The budget for the Games will be about $15 billion, with the city of Rio contributing about a third. It is expected to have an impact in terms of gross domestic product from 2009 to 2016 will be $11 billion, and the Olympics and Paralympics will create nearly 121,000 jobs a year in the seven-year period. And the second phase of Brazil's National Growth Acceleration Program, which includes preparation for the Games, opens up some $220 billion in opportunities for foreign investors from 2011 to 2014.

**National Changes** The BRT routes will feature six lanes for cars and dedicated lanes for buses, which will stop at fixed stations where riders have paid fares in advance. The federally financed $447.5 million TransCarioca route, which cuts across the city from south to north, will require relocating about 3,000 families in the densely populated -- and poor -- northern suburbs at a cost of about $171 million. Work started on a subway link in late June that will connect Ipanema and the rest of Rio's hotel district to Barra da Tijuca, site of the Olympic Village and events such as swimming and diving, track and field and gymnastics, and to the planned TranOeste BRT route. A new toll road, TransOlimpica, that would connect Barra to Deodoro, the venue for shooting, equestrian, pentathlon and fencing events, is in the planning stages. A light rail that will connect the domestic airport, Santos Dumont, to the renovated port is also planned. To fund the overhaul in lighting, water and sewer systems and streets, put in new landscaping, redo the Mauá plaza and pull down the elevated highway, the city plans to sell development rights to private investors and plow the money back into infrastructure improvements, expected to reach $1.7 billion. Private owners who want to develop their land, for example, would buy certificates corresponding to the size of their project. A public auction will determine the cost of the certificates. Over the next 28 months, the city also is offering significant tax exemptions and reductions for those who build in the waterfront area. A station for a planned $18.7 billion bullet train between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo also is slated for the port area. Companies from around the world are competing for the train contract, and the winning bidder will be announced Dec. 16. The train is expected to be running for the Olympics. The city would like to keep its investments in sports facilities at a minimum to avoid getting stuck with sports palaces that become white elephants. Brazil also has pledged to make its Games green -- mostly by taking cars off the road and encouraging mass transit but also by cleaning up the water quality of Lagoa, the lake where rowing and canoeing competitions will be held. Money also has been budgeted to bring more city services to the //favelas,// which often lack garbage pickup and sanitation systems. There are skeptics -- and some of them are everyday Cariocas, as Rio residents are called -- who wonder about traffic as the new road system is being constructed, the quality of work if it is rushed, and how traffic will get to the other side of Guanabara Bay if the elevated highway -- a main connecting road to the Niteroi Bridge -- comes down. And there has been criticism about relocations because of the transit projects.
 * • Transportation:** Three major highway/bus rapid transit routes that will connect the four main Olympic venues with each other and ease traffic to the international airport and Rio's rapidly growing western suburbs are in the works.
 * • Porto Maravilha project:** Probably the most ambitious urban development project in Brazil, it seeks to transform a gritty, dark port into an area of museums and cultural institutions, attractions, restaurants, renovated historic buildings and homes by 2015.
 * • Airports:** The ride in from Galeao, Rio's international airport, to the beachside hotel district clearly isn't the first impression city fathers would like visitors to have of Rio. The trip can take well over an hour, and sometimes traffic along Linha Vermelha or Avenida Brasil shuts down completely when residents of the //favelas,// or shantytowns, that line the routes flee across the highways during police operations. Recently, partitions featuring children's drawings of flowers, rainbows and skateboarders have gone up along portions of the Linha Vermelha, partially blocking the view of the //favelas// that push to the edge of the highway. Planned bus rapid transit lanes along Avenida Brasil should help the airport commute. And the government recently said it plans to invest $3 billion to get its airports ready to handle World Cup traffic, building everything from new runways to terminals.
 * • Sports venues:** Work has already begun on expanding Brazil's Olympic training center in Barra, and housing for athletes, officials and the media will be built with private money.
 * • Hotels:** Even though construction has already started on or plans have been approved for 300 new hotels, there is still an expected 20,000-room deficit for the Olympics. Brazil is planning to use cruise ships docked at the downtown terminal to cover about 8,000 of those rooms. Another 16 hotel projects are being analyzed by city hall.



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