They go back to the military regime, which not only invested heavily in pharaonic public works, but also centralized much of its investment in the hands of increasingly large, powerful construction giants. They were primed to reap the rewards. By the time Brazil won the right to host both mega-events, the global community already knew they were problematic — almost always costing countries and cities more than they were worth, despite grand claims of a resulting economic bonanza.
But hosting the Games would unquestionably bring a lot of new construction. Odebrecht alone received half of all Olympic contracts, by value, and was involved in eight of the ten largest projects.
OAS and Andrade Gutierrez shared second place in the Olympic construction boom, with involvement in six of the ten largest projects each. It hosted 11 events, including BMX cycling, hockey and rugby. The issue, she told Al Jazeera, was that it lacked planning from the decision makers.
Otherwise, other projects and supposed priorities end up taking over and the existing built set is left aside by those who assume office next. Paes, re-elected as Rio mayor last year, has meanwhile defended the work carried out for the Olympics. Souza, though, does not agree. A public transport user, she claims the BRTs were an excuse to remove various bus lines, which were very useful to the population.
The Federal Public Ministry and the Court of Accounts of the Union have pointed out suspicions of overbilling in the construction works during Rio , as well as reporting a lack of solid plans to manage the facilities.
The president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee COB for 22 years, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, was arrested in for corruption and criminal organisation after allegedly purchasing votes of directors of the International Olympic Committee for the choice of Rio as the venue for the Games.
Among the commitments that were not fulfilled were the clean-up of the lagoon and Guanabara Bay, where the sailing competitions were held. The sewage and rubbish flowing into the bay should have been reduced by 80 percent by The commitment was made by the Sergio Cabral government during the campaign to choose Rio as host city.
Not all was unfavourable, though. Flood control for those who live near the Maracana was finally started. One of them, a year-old billionaire named Carlos Carvalho, controls some 65 million square feet of property in the area. It makes for a glaring contrast with London, where athlete accommodations were largely converted into affordable housing after the Summer Games. Carvalho is less tactful than Paes.
Paes and Carvalho both declined to comment for this article. Starting in the s, affluent cariocas began fleeing to Barra from the neighborhoods of Ipanema and Copacabana, where fancy homes owned by highly paid professionals and business owners rub up against hills blanketed by favelas.
Today, Barra resembles the sleekest parts of Miami far more than the classic images of sultry Rio. Gated condo complexes of shining glass and pastel cement dot the wide avenues. After all, Paes says the nearly one-billion-dollar project was built entirely with private money. Here, the city handed over lakeside land that Carvalho is expected to develop into a whole new neighborhood, once the economy rebounds and demand picks up again. As scarce as resources are in Brazil, such subsidies are common for well-connected businessmen.
But they are no guarantee of quality. For Olympic athletes arriving this month, Carvalho delivered apartments with blocked toilets, leaky pipes, and exposed wiring. These companies are at the center of the multibillion-dollar corruption scandal that has plunged Brazil into political chaos, and investigators now believe they skimmed bribes from Olympic projects, too.
Both companies are cooperating with investigators. As recently as May, Paes surreally claimed the Olympics were free of corruption, even though his own party is deeply implicated in the wide-ranging bribery scheme. Beyond the economic concerns surrounding the projects of the Summer Games, there is the substantial human cost. Under Paes, more than 20, families have been evicted from their homes.
His wife was nearly nine months pregnant at the time. He resisted as long as he could, but ultimately gave in and moved his family out after the birth of his youngest child, for fear of how the constant commotion might affect her. Thanks in part to attention from the international press, others negotiated sizeable indemnities and bought homes elsewhere.
Many stadiums have sometimes felt half full, even when officials had announced they were sold out. There have been thousands of empty seats at the later stages of the tennis tournament, athletics finals and even the beach volleyball. The volleyball games were held on Copacabana beach, which is about as convenient a location to the amenities and tourist hotspots of Rio's south zone as you can get.
Olympic officials, when pressed, admit that embarrassing corporate no-shows - sponsors who do not use or have not distributed their full allocation of tickets - are thought to be responsible for many of the empty-looking stands. Brazilians not attending sports about which they are not traditionally enthusiastic, like hockey, rugby or badminton, also account for many of the gaps. Attending the Olympic Games in person has simply been beyond the means of many Cariocas, as Rio residents are known.
Coming into Rio , some observers had predicted a litany of problems that could each contribute to derailing the Games; from the appalling water quality in the sailing venues of Guanabara Bay, to the Zika virus, to the critical transport infrastructure that was finished just in time.
While such an apocalyptic scenario was never really likely, not everyone is happy. Despite the close attention of spotter helicopters to detect floating rubbish and eco-boats to remove the flotsam, several competitors complained bitterly about plastic bags and other waste impeding their progress in the races in the later stages of the sailing events.
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