After several questionings in the Courts and also from political opponents, the Governor of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Iberê Ferreira de Souza, has cancelled the contract for the executive project for the Estádio das Dunas, an arena which shall host games of the 2014 World Cup in the city of Natal. Budgeted at R$ 12.6 million (€ 5.58 million), the projects would be executed by the Stadia Group, a company based in São Paulo that was hired without a regular tender process.
However, the Government has kept the participation of the Populous office, a multinational architecture firm responsible for the basic project of the stadium. The sum to be paid to the office, however, was reduced from R$ 14.8 million (€ 6.55 million) to R$ 4 million (€ 1.77 million), which is a fall of 370%.
“We have cancelled the contracts for the executive project and also for management. However, we have kept the basic project, as without it we could launch the invitation to bid for the PPP. The executive project shall now be the responsible of the winner of the tender process, who shall also be in charge of the management of the work”, the Governor said yesterday in an interview to the Rádio Globo Natal radio station.
Until yesterday, the basic and executive projects of the Estádio das Dunas were the most expensive out of all twelve host cities to be used for the World Cup (please read more). In addition, Natal is the only one of the nine host cities having Government-owned stadiums not to have launched the invitation to bid.
For this reason, the Legislative Assembly needs to approve a guarantee fund which has been assessed at around R$ 37 million (€ 16.37 million), made up of properties owned by the state government. Mr. de Souza shall try to link up with the President of the Legislative Assembly, Robinson Faria, with a view to an extraordinary session being held over the next few days, as the Congresspeople are on holiday.
Court Battles
According to the Governor, the contract was cancelled to avoid possible court questioning which could delay the schedule in Natal even further. “We decided to cancel as we could see that a Court battle was beckoning, which could further delay the World Cup project”, declared Mr. de Souza.
The decision was reached after two days of meetings between the Governor, representatives of the General Attorney’s Office and also the Secretaries for Infrastructure and Extraordinary World Cup Issues. The Audit Court and the Diplomatic Agent questioned the total value of the contracts.
highlights
12/01 | News
