Post-Olympic inventory of venues under way amid claims by contractors for extra payment
Six months have passed since the Olympic Games but the Culture Ministry is still busy with the venues, as Alternate Culture Minister Fanni Palli-Petralia faces the issue of what to do with them now that the Games are over. The government is having to meet contractors’ demands for payment of an extra 150 million euros in claims regarding nearly all the venues. Many of these demands are reasonable, as the contractors were often called in at the last minute to save the country from embarrassment. However, some of the claims are for amounts that are way over budget. Based on the original plan, the total cost of the projects for which the Culture Ministry is responsible amounted to 1.25 billion euros, although the final amount paid was 1.6 billion, without the contractors’ additional fees. The ministry wants to avoid putting any more burdens on the budget and, to a great extent, this goal seems to have been achieved. «In 2001-2003, outlay on the projects grew by 73 percent, but just 7 percent over the past year,» say ministry officials. Discussion of what occurred with the venues’ construction was revived recently following a letter from the Themeliodomi construction firm to the Athens Stock Exchange. The firm cited cash flow problems because the state owed it about 31 million euros for work on Olympic projects. The same argument was used by other contractors, who claim major delays in payment of tens of millions of euros. Many of these payments are for additional work. In order for payments to be made, the approval of the State Audit Council is required, following a ruling by the relevant technical chamber. Themeliodomi, for example, is claiming payment from the state for improvements to Thessaloniki’s Kaftantzogleio Stadium. According to Culture Ministry figures, the original budget for the project was 38.9 million euros; the state has already paid out 42.37 million (an extra 3 million for urgent work). However, Themeliodomi has submitted a further bill for another 21 million euros that is now being examined. If approved, the total cost of the Kaftantzogleio will shoot to 71 million euros. For the Calatrava roof over the main Olympic Stadium and the Velodrome, another project in which Themeliodomi participated in a consortium, the original budget was 144.75 million euros, but the final cost is estimated at 222 million euros. So far, the consortium has been paid 191 million euros and it is believed certain that the rest will be paid, as the work is finished. Almost none of the venues has been officially handed over by the contractors since a major inventory is currently under way and some projects, such as the reconstruction of the Aris stadium in Thessaloniki, are still not finished. The inventory program is aimed at finding out whether everything specified in the contracts has been carried out, and to ascertain whether the contractors’ additional demands are well-founded. The process is complicated, since the previous government had used the following tactic to keep up budget appearances – it kept each project’s budget at the same level but reduced the stipulations of the contract. However, in order for the project to be finished, supplementary contracts were signed, many just a few months before the Games. It is believed that all the projects will have been signed over by August of this year and Petralia believes that by then all differences with contractors will have been settled. She recently pointed out that many stadiums were being used for cultural, sporting and other activities, though the main Olympic Stadium complex was not used over the winter as that would have raised its operating costs. In addition, equipment was being moved out, a lengthy process that also resulted in some damage, such as to the Velodrome.
