The bob track for Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics 2026, considered a work that cannot be postponed, is at the same time a bottomless pit and a source of continuous surprises. The latest, which increases the official figures by about forty million euros, is the result of the decisions taken in Rome by the control room and summarized in the attachments which contain the complete picture of how much they will spend the Italian public finances in relation to the sporting event. There Veneto region he published on his own Official bulletin all numbers, which will now have to be transposed by a decree of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, a necessary step for the approval and therefore for the start of the tender procedures. As for the bobsled in Cortina, the start of the race was expected for June 5thso it has already been postponed, even if the tender is ready.
In total it is of 124 million and 769 thousand euros the “financial coverage” for the adaptation of the “Eugenio Monti” slope “for the purposes” of obtaining the approvals to host international competitions for the disciplines bob, parabob, sledding e skeleton”. After two years of chasing ballets of figures, from the cylinder of IMilan Cortina infrastructurewhich has as extraordinary commissioner Luigi Valerio Sant’Andrea, an unexpected quantification comes out. At the end of February, Sant’Andrea himself had declared, after a control room held in Venice, that “the track in and of itself has a cost of 61 million euros for the works part, with interventions on the redevelopment of neighboring areas, we arrive at 85 million”. The latter seemed to have to be there final digit for the cost of the work.
Instead the surprise is in the new total that it includes a whole range of costs which they are connected to the realization of a work (for example the design, in the various preliminary, definitive, executive phases). How do you get to the almost 125 million euros? The bobsleigh track is divided into three lots. The first concerns the total demolition (apart from a few memorabilia) of the old “Eugenio Monti”, a strip out costing 3 million 812 thousand euros. The second lot is the most substantial: 118 million 424 thousand euros for the new runway and the neighboring areas, with a process of valorisation of the “identity qualities” of the old track. Finally, the third lot involves the recovery of building e manufactured goods of the old track, with one museum space: the cost is 2 million 533 thousand euros.
In the draft application, in the 2019the cost of the work was indicated in 41.7 millionthe total one in 46.5 million euros. In September 2021 the feasibility project of the alternatives had indicated the total “amount of the work”. 60.7 million euros: 38 million for the works alone, 22.7 million for technical expenses, planning, construction supervision, administration, contingencies, VAT. In the technical-economic feasibility project of April 2022, when the price increases were looming raw material ed energy due to the war, here is the leap ad 85 millionwith the expectation of 22 million excessat that time charged to a regional law of Veneto.
At the beginning of 2023 the governor Luca Zaiaafter the assurances received from Rome, he had let slip the confirmation of a rather high bill: “It is the State that bears the expense of 100 or perhaps even 120 million”. Not even a month later came the declarations of Sant’Andrea who, with the cryptic reference to the “cost of works” of 61 million and the further interventions “in neighboring areas” had led to believe that the totaliser would stop at 85 million. The same figure was confirmed on 5 maggio 2023 in an interview with ilfattoquotidiano.it and Andrea VarnishCEO of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Foundation: “I rely on what Simico (Milan-Cortina Infrastructures, ed.), says, the runway will cost 85 million euros”.
If the numbers don’t lie, a figure that exceeds by has come out of the last control room about fifteen million euros even the cost of the track for the 2006 Winter Olympics a Torino, set at 110 million euros. After a few years the plant was closed All, because too expensive. Simico and the Foundation give an explanation of the accounting souffle. The 85 million indicated by Sant’Andrea are limited to contract only, which however does not exhaust the cost of the work. The other millions are listed as additional costs (for example the design that has been very laborious and revised several times) that relate to any work. In any case what the State administration will have to foresee are i 124 million (abundant) euros which it will draw on thanks to Law 234/2021, Decree Law 121/2021, Decree Law 73/2021, Prime Ministerial Decree of 21 January 2022 and Budget Law 197/2022. It is the latter that absorbs the most conspicuous financing to 49 million euros, inclusive of the 22 million initially attributed to the Veneto Region. The Municipality of Cortina and the Province of Belluno they will each put 470 thousand euros.
Società Infrastrutture Milano-Cortina confirms that after the approval of the decree of the council of ministers the will be published tender notice only for the assignment of the bobsled track works, identical to the “pre-information notice” dated 21 April 2023. The estimated value is 81 million 606 thousand euros (which does not include the strip out and the additional items), the duration of the contract is 28 monthsthe runway must be made available by November 2024 to allow test events for homologation by the International Federations. In any case, the work must be put into service by November 15, 2025.