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New cry of alarm for the Olympic infrastructures of Milan. At Palazzo Chigi, during the meeting of the control room on 30 April, the issue of extra costs emerged again in relation to the construction of the two new Milanese sports facilities for the 2026 Milan and Cortina winter games: the ice rink, which it will be built in the Santa Giulia district, already renamed PalaItalia; the Olympic village for athletes and their staff, in Porta Romana.
The two works are built by private individuals: the international Cts Eventim group in the first case, the real estate development company Coima in the second. In both cases it is not the timetable that is worrying, but rather the extra costs which, although they have dropped in recent months, are still there asking for coverage. For PalaItalia there is still talk of at least 50-60 million more costs (but the figure is not certain, and could rise), compared to a project that was initially valued at 180 million; for the Olympic village we are now at 40 million more, on an initial investment of 100 million.
During the last control room the theme was proposed again by the mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala. There are no answers at the moment. The expectation of local authorities is that the government will take charge of it, with a formula to be studied, because evidently it is difficult for the public to intervene in a private activity. Private individuals do not seem willing to spend more than initially hypothesized and the problem risks exploding, given that these are two central and essential works for the Games: the PalaItalia will be used to host the men’s hockey competitions while the Olympic village for provide accommodation to athletes, technicians and sports clubs, plus journalists and communications workers. In Milan the problem has been highlighted several times, in multiple locations, but concrete help has not yet arrived. Concern is rising: if the resources do not arrive in the next few months, the construction sites are at risk.
The next control room is scheduled for the beginning of July and there will also be presented updates on the progress of projects with schools and universities. It is possible that the issue of extra costs will be brought up again here, even if everyone hopes that a solution will be identified sooner.