Rio mayor assures Olympics final cost will reduce by 30 pct

The final cost of the Olympic Games that Rio de Janeiro will host from Friday until Aug. 21 will be 30 percent lower than initial estimates, thanks to many investments from private initiatives, informed Rio de Janeiro's Mayor Eduardo Paes on Thursday.

"The final budget was 30 percent lower than what was announced during the candidacy. It is the first time in the history of the Olympics that the cost is lower than proposed during the candidacy," assured Paes during a business seminar that took place Thursday in the Olympic city.

According to the mayor, the Rio Olympics will have cost a total of 39 billion reais (around 11.818 billion U.S. dollars). Out of this figure, 43 percent was provided by private initiative which is a lot higher than the 17 percent that was financed by private companies in London 2012.

Taking into account only the Olympic facilities, the cost increased to 7 billion reais (around 2.121 billion U.S. dollars) which was financed 70 percent by private companies.

Due to this, Paes highlighted that the Rio ones "were the cheapest Olympic Games in history when only taking into account the investments in sports facilities. The Olympic Stadium in London required much more public investment resources than all of those invested in stadiums in Rio."

"With the exception of Atlanta, where the Olympics were financed by an interested company, a Games has never had such private contributions as Rio. This investment was registered in a country that, for the past two years, has been going through one of its worst economic crises," added the mayor of Rio de Janeiro.

(APD)