Last Monday (24 May) was a special day for the Minas Gerais hopes with regard to the 2014 World Cup. At a meeting held in Rio de Janeiro with the President of the Local World Cup Organizing Committee (COL), Ricardo Teixeira, the Mayor of Belo Horizonte, Márcio Lacerda, and the President of the World Cup Management Nucleus in Minas Gerais, Tadeu Barreto, informed that the city would be a candidate to host the opening game of the World Cup, for which São Paulo and Brasília were also candidates.
Together with the World Cup Project Manager, Fernando Ladeira, and the President of the Executive Committee for the 2014 World Cup in Belo Horizonte, Tiago Lacerda, the committee presented the strategic plan of the city, a document
which brings together 54 projects in areas such as sporting infrastructure, urban mobility, tourism and the hotel business, communication and marketing, public utilities, and FIFA requirements.
Apart from this meeting, yesterday was also the day of the public hearing to present the project for the third phase of the work on the Mineirão stadium, which shall define the consortium to build the stadium and manage it for a period of 25 years, based on the model of shared management.
Before the meeting, Mr. Lacerda and Mr. Ladeira spoke to the 2014 Portal and said that the most important FIFA requirement to host the opening game in Belo Horizonte was the adaptation of the Mineirão. “The most important FIFA requirement is the number of seats. For a game like this, FIFA is working based on not only the spectators but also an expected six or seven thousand press professionals and VIP authorities”, says Mr. Ladeira. Once the refurbishment is completed, this stadium shall have a capacity of about 70 thousand people.
Tiago Lacerda explains that this adaptation includes such items as press quarters, special VIP boxes or camarotes, grandstands and also VIP areas. It is this kind of specifications that qualifies an arena to host World Cup games up to the quarter-finals or semi-finals. In addition, the stadium that hosts the opening game can also be the venue for the World Cup final”, he says.
Hotels
The weak point of the capital of Minas Gerais for hosting the 2014 World Cup is the limited supply of hotel rooms, something that Mr. Lacerda rules out. “Anyone who talks about a FIFA requirement for a certain number of hotel rooms is mistaken. The real problem with hotels in Belo Horizonte is the lack of luxury hotel rooms, which does not worry us either”, he says.
The President of the Local Executive Committee explains that investors have already registered projects for the construction of 15 new hotels in Belo Horizonte, with the city hall. “We shall have new units of world chains of luxury hotels, some of which are already under construction”, says Mr. Lacerda.
Even disregarding the requirement of hotel beds, Mr. Lacerda says that there is indeed a figure which must be worked on. “The market itself calculated a figure for Germany and another for South Africa, and yes indeed, there shall also be one for Brazil. What happened in Germany’s case was that there was a need to have 40% of the capacity of the stadium in hotel rooms within a radius of 100 km around the stadium. This is a figure set by the market and not by FIFA”, he stresses. Proportionally, it is estimated that 28 thousand hotel rooms would be necessary so that the capital of Minas Gerais would be able to receive the volume of tourists that the opening game of the World Cup would bring.
A study of the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (Associação Brasileira da Indústria de Hotéis - ABIH) says that the capital of the state of Minas Gerais currently has 34 thousand hotel rooms within 100 km of the stadium. It is estimated that most of the tourists are families and come from the middle classes, making a holiday trip of the World Cup. This tourist tends to stay in the countryside and also in historical cities, something that abounds in Minas Gerais...
Mr. Lacerda also mentioned the World Cup Village (Vila da Copa), the informal name given to the developments to be constructed in the region of Granja Werneck, and which could make up to three thousand hotel beds available for the World Cup.
Urban Mobility and Airports
Mr. Ladeira explains that the Secretariat for Economic Development is working on a plan for Confins Airport. “Infraero has made funds available through an agreement, and the Secretariat shall carry out and implement the project for the second terminal at Confins”, he said. The forecast says that by 2014 the capacity of the airport shall increase from five to 10 or 12 million passengers per year.
Mr. Lacerda also admits the possibility of using Pampulha Airport, which is only five minutes away from the Mineirão. “This airport lies in a strategic position and requires less work. This airport shall surely be used by private flights and also by national executive aviation”, he says.
About the road network, the doubling of Antônio Carlos Avenue is ready. In addition, Pedro I, Pedro II and Catalão Avenues shall also receive important intervention work for the implementation of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. In addition, last week an agreement was signed for the construction of a viaduct that shall provide a direct link between Antônio Carlos Avenue and Abraão Caram Avenue, which provides access to the Mineirão and the Mineirinho.
highlights
06/01 | News
