As time passes, the question becomes more and more recurring: will Brazil be able to arrive prepared for the appointment with the 2014 World Cup?
The Minister of Sport, Aldo Rebelo, has shown confidence in recent days: “68% of the works will be delivered by the end of 2013 and 17% will finish in 2014, before the start of the World Cup”.
Beyond the reassurances, two years after the kick-off of the competition, the scenario is beginning to arouse great concern, so much so that Joseph Blatter scolded Brazil, accusing it of "not doing homework in the set time". According to the budget disclosed by the government in recent days, in fact, just 5% of the planned works can be said to be completed, while 40% is still on paper.
In total we are talking about 101 infrastructures: 5 completed, 55 under construction, 41 still on paper, 17 waiting to be tendered, 15 in the project finalization stage and nine waiting to start work.
The stadiums
The stadium that has accumulated the greatest delay is that of Curitiba, in the south of the country, whose chronogram is stuck at a measly 11%. Not doing very well in Porto Alegre either: the execution of the works of the Beira-Rio stadium progresses slowly reaching just 20% of the total.
The Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, which will host the final of the World Cup, will eventually make it (couldn't it be otherwise?) but to date the works have stopped at 45% and in 2013 there will already be the first test to be prepared for, the Cup of the Confederations. Significant delays were also reported in the construction works of the new San Paolo stadium (32% completed), in Manaus, in the heart of the Amazon (38%) and in Natal, in the northeast of the country (22%).
Airports and ports
If the stadiums will in the end, in some way, be ready, it is the airports instead that give rise to very strong concerns: already today, the capacity of the country's main airports is being severely tested by the overcrowding of passengers, while the expansion works are practically at a standstill.
Of the planned funds, around three billion euros, just 3% was used: in total there are 31 works planned in 13 airports, yet only 5 are completed, while 13 have not even started.
The most important port infrastructure of the country, that of Rio de Janeiro, according to the forecasts of the government of Dilma Rousseff, will be ready only in May 2014, on the eve of the World Cup, and which will be able to host ship-hotels to compensate to another lack, that of beds in the city.
Urban mobility
In addition to the ongoing works at the port and airport, Rio de Janeiro is also the city with the highest number of open construction sites. The cidade maravilhosa will in fact also be the protagonist of the 2016 Olympics and will therefore need a wider restyling process that will change its face.
However, the situation of urban mobility infrastructures remains alarming overall: 45% of the public works planned in the 12 cities chosen by FIFA have not even begun. Yet the government is convinced that 80% of the works will be completed by the end of 2013.
The race against time has already begun and, despite the delays, the Brazilians remain optimistic and convinced that the 2014 World Cup will be unforgettable both for them and for tourists. To complete the work on time, then, it will be enough to rely on the usual jeitinho brasileiro, that is, that innate art of getting by which distinguishes them and which will somehow make them arrive prepared at the X hour.
