Brasil 2014

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

build it & they will come?

 

 

THE 2014 football World Cup, to be held in Brazil, should provide an opportunity for the hosts to show what they can do, both on and off the pitch. Its footballers define o jogo bonito (“the beautiful game”), and these days the country’s economy is pretty good to watch as well. But it seems ever more possible that the country will drop the off-field ball. The 12 host cities have among them nine airport redevelopments which are well behind schedule. São Paulo has not even started to build the new stadium that is supposed to stage the opening match. In Rio de Janeiro the Maracanã stadium (pictured), pencilled in for the final, is a money-guzzling building site. The contract for Natal’s proposed arena was signed only on April 15th—more than three years after Brazil was named host.

 

Air travel is essential to shuttle fans between games, but most of Brazil’s airports are already operating above their nominal capacity. Baggage handling and check-in are slow; delays and cancellations common. On April 14th IPEA, a government-linked think-tank, said that even if all the planned airport upgrades were completed by kick-off (which it said would not happen), hectic growth in local demand would still leave most airports overcrowded—even without 1m football fans stopping by. The number of internal flights taken annually rose by 83m in 2003-10 and will rise by almost as much again by 2014, the study said.

 

IPEA’s warnings did not go down well with the government. Gilberto Carvalho, the secretary-general of the presidency, said they were “cobbled together from press clippings” and Brazilians, who suffered from an inferiority complex, were “betting on disgrace”. But it has long been obvious that the airports need radical change. Infraero, the sluggish state-owned monopoly that operates them, is so inefficient that for years it has failed to spend even half its budget for airport upgrades.

 

On April 26th came the long-awaited news that the government would turn to the private sector for help. Antônio Palocci, the chief of staff to the president, said concessions were being considered for five airports: first Brasília’s airport and two of São Paulo’s, and later one each of those in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro. But he gave no details of the terms on which the private consortia will operate, or how closely they will have to work with Infraero. Only three of the five airports he mentioned are on IPEA’s critical list.

 

Private-sector investment is very welcome, says Paulo Resende, an infrastructure specialist at the Fundação Dom Cabral, a business school. But just as important for the World Cup is realism about what is possible by 2014. New terminals, runways, technology and even entire new airports are needed to satisfy domestic demand, he says. “But if we persist in saying that everything will be ready for the World Cup, no matter what, we risk making fools of ourselves,” he says.

 

Mr Resende thinks that the tournament will need quick fixes, such as temporary check-in desks and waiting areas in airport car parks, and pressing smaller airfields into service. According to Respicio Espirito Santo, an aviation consultant, airlines will probably find seats for foreign football fans by suppressing domestic demand with big fare rises. Both worry that the government’s plan to speed things up by relaxing normally strict rules on building and managing publicly funded projects will lead to rampant cost escalation, as happened with the facilities for the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2007. Brazil may still be ready for kick-off, though perhaps with fewer stadiums than it had originally planned. But it looks likely to pay a high price for a successful tournament.

[Sion]

I cannot wait for this. Been saving up for a while and fully intend to go. Reckon it'll be the last great World Cup for a long time thanks to FIFA.

[Cam]

I hope it goes wrong for them and they pull out. FIFA then turn to England, which can clearly hold a tournament at a moments notice, and the FA tells 'em where to go. No World Cup is held (a great rest for the players). The FA then write a resignation letter to FIFA which is followed by many more... and an open & transparent rival for the World Cup is set up.

 

I give the odds of this happening at probably slightly greater than 4/1.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

9/2?

[Nebraska Red]

I hope it goes wrong for them and they pull out. FIFA then turn to England, which can clearly hold a tournament at a moments notice, and the FA tells 'em where to go. No World Cup is held (a great rest for the players). The FA then write a resignation letter to FIFA which is followed by many more... and an open & transparent rival for the World Cup is set up.

 

I give the odds of this happening at probably slightly greater than 4/1.

 

 

here's hoping that when Brazil screws up, thy move it to North America and let the USA and Mexico host it jointly.

[Epic Swindle]

I hope it's another huge failure. FIFA need crushing.

[Stevie H]

I cannot wait for this. Been saving up for a while and fully intend to go. Reckon it'll be the last great World Cup for a long time thanks to FIFA.

if it's policed and administered anything like south africa was i don't see it being a lot of fun around the grounds. probably be ace in the towns and cities like.

[Nebraska Red]

if it's policed and administered anything like south africa was i don't see it being a lot of fun around the grounds. probably be ace in the towns and cities like.

 

 

as long as they have torn down the slums and got shut of all the vagrants.

[Stevie H]

as long as they have torn down the slums and got shut of all the vagrants.

 

yes, won't that be nice. none of those poor kids learning to play football with an orange getting in the way of western tourists etc.

 

Brazil under fire for World Cup slum evictions

 

Reuters, Wednesday May 11 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/feedarticle/9639276

* Brazil accused of ignoring rights in infrastructure push

* Critics say Rio projects ignoring city's long-term needs

* City says many more people will benefit than lose out

 

By Stuart Grudgings

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 11 (Reuters) - Like his house, Jose Santos de Oliveira is an island of resistance.

 

The middle-aged gardener and his home stand amid the sea of rubble that remains of the slum community of Vila Recreio 2 in the west of Rio de Janeiro.

 

The mistake of the around 200 families who used to live here? They were in the way of Brazil's make-over to host the world's biggest sports events in the coming years -- in this case, one of three new bus routes aimed at easing congestion.

 

The 2014 soccer World Cup and the Olympic Games in Rio two years later are spurring a multi-billion dollar drive to upgrade Brazil's creaking infrastructure. But as work gets under way it has run up against a barrier -- Brazil's unequal society and chaotic urban planning that has seen hundreds of slums spring up throughout cities like Rio in recent decades.

 

Rights groups say poor residents appear to be losing out, raising early questions over whether the double-header of sporting "mega-events" will help heal Brazil's deep social divisions or worsen them.

 

Both Amnesty International and a United Nations rapporteur have condemned Brazil over evictions related to World Cup and Olympic building work, a potential embarrassment for center-left President Dilma Rousseff who has vowed to eliminate dire poverty in Latin America's largest economy.

 

Rio is not alone. U.N. rapporteur Raquel Rolnik said last month that she had received allegations of evictions and possible rights abuses in eight of the 12 cities that will host World Cup games, including financial capital Sao Paulo.

 

She cited a pattern of a lack of consultation with affected communities as well as insufficient compensation at a time when real estate prices are booming in many Brazilian cities.

 

WRONG PATH?

 

Oliveira, whose house is still standing because he filed a legal complaint against the evictions, said no residents were invited to city planning meetings before bulldozers and trucks arrived to begin demolition work late last year.

 

Aggrieved residents like him say they are suffering because they have no political clout and their messy shack-like houses don't fit the image the city wants to project.

 

"We aren't garbage, we are people," said Oliveira, as municipal trucks carried mounds of debris away behind him.

 

"We are being trampled by the economic powers."

 

Rio city authorities have said they will seize about 3,000 houses to make way for one of the three new bus routes, the 39 km (24 mile) Transcarioca.

 

They say they are following legal requirements to give notice of evictions, offer alternative housing, and pay fair rates for properties, although the illegal nature of most slum houses means they cannot pay for the land.

 

"The city is absolutely not trying to gentrify and push the poor away," said Jorge Bittar, Rio's housing secretary and a member of Rousseff's leftist Workers' Party. "These new routes are meeting a demand that's been there for decades in Rio ... the people who will use the buses are the poor, not the rich."

 

The number of families facing upheaval from the works is small compared to the many low-income citizens who will benefit from better transport and a wave of public investments in slums that has been stimulated by the Olympics, he said.

 

But critics see signs that Brazil is heading down a familiar path trodden by hosts of big sports events -- spending huge amounts of public money without much debate over whether the projects are in the long-term interests of the population.

 

About 1.5 million people were evicted by Chinese authorities as Beijing prepared for the 2008 Olympics. Beijing and other recent Olympic hosts Sydney and Athens built expensive stadiums that have been used little since the Games.

 

"This is very authoritarian, top-down, with no public audiences, no democratic participation -- and it's going to change the city for ever," said Chris Gaffney, a visiting professor of urbanism at Rio's Fluminense Federal University.

 

"Everywhere mega-events go, this is the model."

 

Another example Gaffney cites is the more than $600 million overhaul of Rio's iconic Maracana soccer stadium for the World Cup that forced it to close last year through 2013. The stadium will be bid out to the private sector, a move that local fans fear will result in higher ticket prices.

 

"When you look at what the projects are actually doing, they are fragmenting and dividing the city," Gaffney said.

 

"A PITTANCE"

 

Forests of newly built condominiums for Brazil's emerging middle class and billboards advertising real estate opportunities line the route from downtown Rio to the western beach area where most Olympic events will be held.

 

Work has been underway for months here on the bus routes that officials say should ease congestion for the events and beyond, but which pass directly through poor communities.

 

"I didn't have much choice. My four children would have been on the street," said 43-year-old Tania Maria Alves, who accepted 40,000 reais ($24,700) in compensation for her three-bedroom house and used it to buy a home nearby.

 

Amnesty head Salil Shetty, who visited affected communities on a visit to Brazil last month, told Reuters some residents have been offered new homes up to 60 km (37 miles) away and the compensation offers were often a "pittance."

 

"There's a sense that these issues of human rights are coming in the way of development," he said.

 

Like most Brazilians, Sueli Afonso da Costa is passionate about soccer and swelled with pride when her country won the right to host the World Cup. Now, though, the event will always be tainted by the loss of her home in the Vila Harmonia slum, which was also in the way of the new bus route.

 

"The city never came in here to help us, to check on our health, our sanitation. But when it was time to destroy, they came in and robbed us," said the smartly dressed nurse.

 

"We are all for progress and the culture of sports, but in this case they came and destroyed our lives."

 

($ = 1.62 reais) (Additional reporting by Thales Carneiro; Editing by Kieran Murray)

[Andy @ Allerton]

I hope it's another huge failure. FIFA need crushing.

 

I hope it's a success and lots of much needed revenue finds its way to the areas that need it.

 

About the slums, that's an interesting point. When I visited Brazil a couple of years back the slums apparantly don't feel 'hard done to' and a lot of people choose to live there. They have their own power and they don't pay taxes (The people nearby are irritated that they don't pay for that power - which is essentially nicked off the national grid and they don't pay taxes). Obviously some are very poor - but for those that can't afford to live in the area they choose the slums. Also there are slums there and slums. The bad ones are really bad and no one wants to live there, but they have slums where tourists can pay to go around. Must say I was disappointed with Ipanema beach (Overlooked by the biggest slum) as it's such a romantic location in your head - when we went past they were bulldozing used needles and condoms off the beach - which was a bit minging.

 

But of the six or seven places we visited, it's clear that an injection of cash would be most welcome (Let's hope these areas get it rather than the Government)

[carrafan]

Also there are slums there and slums.

 

One amount?

[Stevie H]

a bulldozer? how many needles and condoms were on this beach?

[Andy @ Allerton]

One amount?

 

Some slums are 'desirable'

 

Mind you the Tour guide was obviously miffed with them because she kept banging on about how she had to pay for electric and water and taxes and they got it all for 'free' so she might have been a bit biased.

 

a bulldozer? how many needles and condoms were on this beach?

 

 

Wasn't 'A' bulldozer. There were about 10 of them. We asked what they were doing. It was after their bit celebration around Christmas where they all party the night before and all stay in the next day. Worked out quite well because seeing all the sights with barely a soul about meant we didn't have to queue. Went on Sugarloaf mountain, some beaches (Not Ipanema) and saw Christ the Redeemer - plus the other usual tour areas.

[drdooom]

What alternatives do these people who 'choose' to live in the slums have?

[Cobs]

My mate took us into a favela at night- scary place. Kids riding about on motorbikes with machine guns...

[Andy @ Allerton]

What alternatives do these people who 'choose' to live in the slums have?

 

 

Some of them none. Some of them to live elsewhere.

 

And it's not all the slums. The tour guide some 'Slums' were better than others.

 

Like yourself, you'd think that people wouldn't want to live there, but apparantly some people do. Some people travel specifically to the area to live in them. And as I said the locals are miffed that they are there - but then again you would be wouldn't you?

[Bailo]

Had a few mates go to the Brazilian Grand Prix last year, said they'd never go back. So many tourists held up at gunpoint, they were all threatened whenever they left their hotel, some Germans they got to know from the grandstand didn't turn up for qualifying and when they saw them at the race they said they'd spent 5 hours in a police cell for "not having the correct ID", despite all carrying passports. Once fines totalling 2000 euros were paid they were released.

 

Shame, as I'd really like to go to the World Cup and the Grand Prix is a classic.

[Andy @ Allerton]

My mate took us into a favela at night- scary place. Kids riding about on motorbikes with machine guns...

 

I heard one or two of them were Ok to visit for tourists. Must admit even though it was quite empty when I was there, I felt a bit nervous in Rio (And the rest of Brazil for that matter). Argentina though was fantastic. Beunos Aires is possibly one of my favourite Cities now. Loved the place.

[aka Dus]

I cannot wait for this. Been saving up for a while and fully intend to go. Reckon it'll be the last great World Cup for a long time thanks to FIFA.

 

I plan on going too but I think the Russian one will be good too.

[Andy @ Allerton]

I cannot wait for this. Been saving up for a while and fully intend to go. Reckon it'll be the last great World Cup for a long time thanks to FIFA.

 

Look after yourself. Didn't feel safe there at all. And you could tell how nervy and edgy the tour guides were all the time. Not too many places I've felt that edgy in - probably Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Cyprus are the only places that have come close to feeling that dodgy.

[Nebraska Red]

I went there over 25 years ago.

 

The hotel had a get together on the first day to let us know what to do and where to go.

 

it was just a list of don'ts.

 

don't wear jewellry, don't carry credit cards, don't carry lots of cash, keep away from the edge of the pavement.

 

in the end, most of the people went nowhere on their own and did bus tours.

 

we had a decent time, but never stayed out late and kept to the busy parts of town.

 

my favorite was the street map they handed out with huge parts of Rio blacked out with instructions never to go to the blacked out areas.

[Frosty Jack]

Some slums are 'desirable'

 

Mind you the Tour guide was obviously miffed with them because she kept banging on about how she had to pay for electric and water and taxes and they got it all for 'free' so she might have been a bit biased.

 

Wasn't 'A' bulldozer. There were about 10 of them. We asked what they were doing. It was after their bit celebration around Christmas where they all party the night before and all stay in the next day. Worked out quite well because seeing all the sights with barely a soul about meant we didn't have to queue. Went on Sugarloaf mountain, some beaches (Not Ipanema) and saw Christ the Redeemer - plus the other usual tour areas.

 

f*** off Andy

[Stevie H]

f*** off Andy

hahaha. was wondering when you might chip into this thread.

[mick]

I am always annoyed by the holding of world cups in places like Brazil, South Africa, Russia. Reason being that there are millions in these countries living in poverty and surely all these tournaments do is divert funds from the very needy to building stadiums that become while elephants.

 

Although maybe my argument is too simplistic and those funds wouldn't go to the needy anyway.

[Nebraska Red]

I am always annoyed by the holding of world cups in places like Brazil, South Africa, Russia. Reason being that there are millions in these countries living in poverty and surely all these tournaments do is divert funds from the very needy to building stadiums that become while elephants.

 

Although maybe my argument is too simplistic and those funds wouldn't go to the needy anyway.

 

 

they justify using the funds for the stadiums as they will say they are providing jobs and stimulating local businesses. no doubt large sums of money will find their way to corrupt officials at all levels of the development process.

 

these days, that's just the cost of doing business..

 

what are they doing with those great stadiums in South Africa?

Edited May 21, 2011 by Nebraska Red