22nd November, 2013
Seven months to the beginning of the 2014 FIFA World Cup,Brazil is running behind schedule in completing some of the projects to make for the smooth organisation of the fiesta.
According to a recent Infraero survey, construction delays are plaguing work at seven of the 12 Brazilian cities that will host the World Cup from next June.
The worst delay was reported to be in the southern city of Porto Alegre, where work on expanding terminal at a cost of $69 million has not even begun.
Work on the two terminals at Rio’s Galeao is supposed to be completed by next April but is running behind schedule, according to the Infraero survey cited by the daily O Globo.
In the southern city of Curitiba, only 6.19 percent of the airport upgrade has been completed. In the northeastern city of Salvador, capital of Bahia state, the percentage completed reached 20.2 percent and in Cuiaba, capital of the central state of Mato Grosso, 23.09 percent.
A similar situation is reported at the airports of the northeastern city of Fortaleza and the southern city of Belo Horizonte.
Things are smoother at privatized airports not run by Infraero, including Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport, where 60 percent of the work has been completed.
In Brasilia and Natal work on the airports are at least half completed.