The mega-builder Carvalho Hosken (one of the largest land holders in Barra de Tijuca the neighborhood where the majority of 2016 Olympic installations will be located), signed a contract today with Rio 2016 and the Rio city government to build the Olympic Village at a cost of R$1 Billion. Even without having fully negotated the terms of the loan from the Caixa Economica, Carvalho Hosken is set to build the 2.500 apartment residential complex.
The math is simple. One Billion divided by 2.500 = R$400.000. According to today's story, the "idea is to sell the apartments on the open market."
Looking back to the Pan American Games and the resulting emptiness of the Vila PanAmericana (which contrary to today's rosy reporting, has an occupancy level lower than 30% even though the majority of the apartments were sold after the Pan), we might be staring the same beast in the face. The VilaPan did not have sufficient financial backing, the scope of the project was reduced and the condominiums are mostly empty.
The head of Carvalho Hosken said of the 2016 Olympic Village "if I feel like I'm not going to be able to complete the project, I'll tell Nuzman (head of Rio 2016) and give up on the project." Great. So if C.H. can't finish the Olympic Village for a BILLION reales, then he'll give up and force someone else to take over at the last minute? Imagine what the average price for one of the apartments will be after this happens...R$500.000, R$600.000? This will certainly solve the grave housing crisis in Rio de Janeiro.
While this is going on, the Rio city government is ticking off a list of 119 favelas to be removed in the lead-up to the games. Many of these are within sight of the future Olympic Village. The Tribunal das Contas da União, responsible for monitoring government spending is going to have its work cut out for it. They still haven't finished processing people for the PAN 2007.
In other news, the Communist Party of Brasil (CPdoB) has begun to insist that the current Minister of Sport, Orlando Silva, maintain his post and not be shuffled over to head the Autoridade Publico Olímpico, the parallel government that will be responsible for building the Olympic City. We have already seen the ousting of Ricardo Leyser from the position of CEO of BRASIL 2016 (the private company that will be contracted by the APO on a no-bid basis). Are the deck chairs being shuffled because the stink of the PAN is still heavy around all these Olympic insiders? Or is there a genuine effort to find people who are qualified for the job?
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