Rio assailed for ‘white elephant’ venues

RIO DE JANEIRO — A federal prosecutor looking into last year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics said that many of the venues “are white elephants” that were built with “no planning.”

The scathing report offered Monday at a public hearing confirms what The Associated Press reported several months after the games ended. Many of the venues are empty, boarded up and have no tenants or income with the maintenance costs dumped on the federal government.

“There was no planning,” federal prosecutor Leandro Mitidieri told the public hearing on the Olympics. “There was no planning when they put out the bid to host the Games. No planning.

“They are white elephants today,” Mitidieri added. “What we are trying to look at here is to how to turn this into something usable.”

Rio de Janeiro spend about $12 billion to organize the games, which were plagued by cost-cutting, poor attendance, and reports of bribes and corruption linked to the building of some Olympic-related facilities.

The Olympic Park in suburban Barra da Tijuca, which was the largest cluster of venues, is an expanse of empty arenas with clutter still remaining from the games. The second largest cluster, in the northern area of Deodoro, is closed despite plans to open it as a public park with swimming facilities for the mostly poor who live in the area.

Nine months after the Rio Olympics ended, the local organizing committee still owes creditors about $30 million. Former Rio de Janeiro Mayor

Eduardo Paes, the moving force with the International Olympic Committee behind organizing last year’s Olympics, is being investigated for allegedly accepting at least 15 million reals ($5 million) in payments to facilitate construction projects tied to the games. He denies any wrongdoing. In a statement to AP, the IOC said “Rio had a strong legacy plan in place,” and it urged there be no “hasty judgment.”

“What we know is that Rio is a better place after the Olympic Games,” the IOC said.