Over the next few days, the Internacional shall finally sign a contract with construction company Andrade Gutierrez, which was the company selected by the club for the continuation of the refurbishment work on the Beira-Rio for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, in exchange for a 20 years partnership for the exploitation of new commercial areas in the stadium. The contract with the building firm was approved late this Thursday night (16th) at a Board Meeting which lasted almost four hours.
The club is now in a race against time to sign the document in 2011. With the new agreement, Andrade Gutierrez shall have 30 days to resume the work, which has been stopped since the middle of June, when the club decided to stop the work to await the drawing up of the contract – a process which exceeded the initial expectations of the club executives and took six months.
There is no date for signing the contract, but the club shall call the Minas Gerais press for a ceremony to be held before Christmas. Inter is interested in showing agility to FIFA after the stoppage of the work was considered one of the reasons why Porto Alegre was left out of the Confederations Cup to be held in 2013.
The fear is now that a delay could remove the capital of Rio Grande do Sul from the 2014 calendar, or even that the matches could be moved to the Arena do Grêmio, the stadium of the city rivals that is currently under construction in the North Zone of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.
Agreement
At the meeting held this Thursday, 283 Board Members came over to the Beira-Rio to analyze the abstract that requires that Andrade Gutierrez refurbish the stadium within FIFA requirements, in time for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
In exchange, the building company shall have the right to exploit new spaces in the stadium for a period of 20 years, such as boxes, five thousand VIP seats, a garage building, commercial spaces, internal publicity and also naming rights of the Beira-Rio which, according to the contract, shall not lose its original name (the name of the sponsor shall be placed beside the popular name of the stadium).
The model was approved by 229 board members, which is 82.97% of the voting members. The opposition, led by former club president Vitório Píffero, was noisy and made somber forecasts about the future of the club if the partnership was approved. However, only 47 board members rejected the terms of the contract. “Now, it is the time to enter the chapel queue”, said Píffero at the end of the voting process, saying that he would “pray” for the partnership to work out.
Model
In March, when the club decided to change the type of financing for the work, renouncing the system that used own resources, created during Píffero’s administration, to take up a partnership with a building firm, the proposal of the new administration of Internacional had been unanimously approved.
The contract, the terms of which were kept secret but available to the members, aroused doubts that fuelled opposition to the project. The Board Members questioned, for example, the cash sums involved. The work, which had originally been budgeted by Andrade Gutierrez at R$ 290 million, now has a cost of R$ 330 million.
The contract plans changes to the “closed price” system, giving the building firm the responsibility of absorbing possible fluctuations in values. The club shall have to pay R$ 26 million, as well as returning, over the next few years, a total of R$ 8 million for the advance payment of the lease of suites, which are now under the responsibility of Andrade Gutierrez. Another R$ 14 million spent on the work shall not be reimbursed.
Until the refurbishment was stopped back in June, Inter had completed the work on the tubing around the Beira-Rio and also the foundations for the cover of the stadium. One quarter of the lower stands were knocked down last December and only 50% of the area was reconstructed, which meant that the supporters would have to live with a stadium in pieces throughout the 2011 season.
Transparency
Apart from the Board of the Club, the contract was also analyzed by another three administrative bodies of the Club, namely the Audit Committee, the Works Commission and the Consultive Committee, being approved by all three.
The Board Members had one week to read the text in a special room in the Beira-Rio Stadium, protected by security guards that prevented the use of cameras or mobile telephones at the location. “The rite took a long time, but was very transparent”, said the Club President Giovanni Luigi after the voting process.
With the approval of the partnership, Inter puts an end to a saga which started back in the middle of 2010, when FIFA started to doubt the financial guarantees offered by the club to proceed with the repair work. The club did not find a way to prove the investment capacity for this institution and, after a change of management in January, Luigi decided on a partnership model, with the burden of presenting bank guarantees being left to the construction company.
Andrade Gutierrez should request a loan from the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social - BNDES) to finance the refurbishment of the Beira-Rio Stadium. The state company has a credit line open for World Cup stadiums, and can finance up to 75% of the cost of the work.
With the contract signed, Inter should play some more matches of the Gaúcho State Championship in other stadiums of the region, to allow greater speed in the construction work. In the Libertadores Cup, however, the club will play at the Beira-Rio.
highlights
04/05 | News
