Officials: Athens will be access-friendly by 2004
Athens will make all public and private buildings accessible to the disabled by the 2004 Games, officials said yesterday. In what may become one of the biggest challenges for the troubled organizers of the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games yet, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said it was time for these measures to be put in place across the country. «The operation of the whole country changes as far as accessibility is concerned. All buildings (public and private) will have to come under the new guidelines for accessibility,» Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos told reporters. He said the government would draft a law to impose these measures, modeled on US disability access guidelines. All buildings old and new, as well as the country’s many archaeological sites, including ancient Olympia, the Athens Acropolis and the ancient Oracle at Delphi, will have to grant access for disabled people in time for the 2004 Games. Currently only a handful of buildings, mainly in the capital, have special ramps, elevators and lavatories for the disabled. «Greece cannot be an inhospitable country in 2004,» Venizelos said. He said the cost for this essential revamp would be covered by public and private funds, but did not give an estimate of the total figure. The Games organizers have said that such reconstructions for public buildings alone will cost about 290 million euros ($255.3 million). When asked why such necessary measures had not been put in place before, Venizelos said, «Because until now it had not been part of our social awareness.» The International Paralympic Committee is due to visit Athens next week to discuss preparations for the Games. Greece’s capital, a traffic-clogged city of more than 4 million people, has few measures in place to facilitate access to disabled Athenians and millions of visitors every year. Cars and trucks regularly park on pavements and pedestrian walks, blocking wheelchair access to traffic lights, crossings and shops. Athens is scheduled to welcome 4,000 athletes for the Paralympics, scheduled for September 2004.
