Rio backpedals on key legacy projects before Olympics, As International Olympic Committee inspectors arrived this week for a three-day visit ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics here, they were likely greeted with a potent reminder of the ground the city still needs to cover: The famous stench of the Guanabara Bay that follows guests from the international airport down through the city's historical port zone.
The gray-green body of water that forms the eastern border of the city is also where Olympic sailing will be hosted in just 18 months. Biologists says it's also the final destination for the lion's share of the sewage produced by the 12 million people who call Rio's metropolitan area home.
Rio had promised in 2009 when it won the Olympic bid to clean up 80 percent of the sewage in the bay. But like several key infrastructure promises pegged to the Games, this one has been subject to backpedaling and lowered expectations from officials as the Olympics get closer.
"Of course I'd like for everything to be ready for the Olympics, but what I want is a legacy for the local population," Rio de Janeiro Governor Luiz Fernando Pezão recently told reporters when asked about the city's sewage goal. "I won't be frustrated" if that percentage isn't reached by the Games, the governor added.Read More
The gray-green body of water that forms the eastern border of the city is also where Olympic sailing will be hosted in just 18 months. Biologists says it's also the final destination for the lion's share of the sewage produced by the 12 million people who call Rio's metropolitan area home.Rio had promised in 2009 when it won the Olympic bid to clean up 80 percent of the sewage in the bay. But like several key infrastructure promises pegged to the Games, this one has been subject to backpedaling and lowered expectations from officials as the Olympics get closer.
"Of course I'd like for everything to be ready for the Olympics, but what I want is a legacy for the local population," Rio de Janeiro Governor Luiz Fernando Pezão recently told reporters when asked about the city's sewage goal. "I won't be frustrated" if that percentage isn't reached by the Games, the governor added.Read More
