"Pedro Celestino, of the Rio’s Engineering Club, echoed the organizers about the buildings, but is critical of the way they carried out the works, by cutting corners and disrespecting protocols, he told FNL, "established worldwide."
Speeding up the pace of construction, he said, was their goal. "So it will be ready, but the quality of the work may be compromised. In many projects the company responsible for the design was also responsible for the construction and also supervision – when there should be three different companies, each performing one of those roles.”
Celestino concluded, “Yes, there may be incidents, since an important protocol was ignored. But they will be ready."
The emblematic case is the Tim Maia bike path alongside Niemeyer Avenue, which is not an official Olympic project but is being carried out by one of the firms that carried out work for the Games. Two people died when a part of the elevated lane simply collapsed.
"The company that built it was the same one that inspected it,” Celestino pointed out. “How can we trust this process?"
There is also precious little margin for error, since the budget of the city has already been stretched to its limit, and the state of Rio de Janeiro – which is footing the bill for security during the Games – recently declared an emergency in an attempt to get the federal government to issue funds that would allow the state to honor its commitments."
photo: a ramp built for competitors' boats to reach the water hangs after collapsing at the Marina da Gloria sailing venue just days before the start of the Olympic Games. Photo: Reuters
photo: a ramp built for competitors' boats to reach the water hangs after collapsing at the Marina da Gloria sailing venue just days before the start of the Olympic Games. Photo: Reuters
Buckle up. It could be interesting.
