Local government in major role in the future of Olympic installations
The government does not plan to sell any of the 14 sports and media installations due to be turned over to a public company set up to manage them after the Olympic Games, a senior official said yesterday. «The government and Olympic Properties do not intend to sell the installations but put them to the best possible use in order to promote culture, sports, tourism and the local development of municipalities,» the company’s president Christos Hadziemannuil told a meeting of mayors of the Attica region, in the presence of Alternate Culture Minister Fanni Palli-Petralia. «We agreed that the government’s and the mayors’ priority is that whatever is done be to the benefit of local communities and the interest of citizens,» Palli-Petralia said. She added that she has officially agreed with the mayors’ request that the mobile equipment at about 60 training and sports facilities be left in place, under their own responsibility. The mayors asked that they participate in the decision-making process for the Olympic installations and said they have already launched a study for their development. Hadziemannuil said last week the operational costs of the facilities cannot be accurately calculated until the contractors officially hand over the projects and the relevant technical data. «For all facilities, we have a specific picture of where we want to go but must first find out whether there is real demand for what we have in mind. If not, we shall reassess,» he said.
