Hard work starts now for Russia

RUSSIA basked in the limelight yesterday as the future first-time host of the World Cup in 2018, but media questioned how the country will pay the bill which they said could reach €37 billion.

Vladimir Putin radiated confidence as he descended on Zurich for a news conference, portraying Russia as a country on the upturn.

“When FIFA makes a decision, FIFA members think of the political conditions in the country. We have a stable political situation,” he said.

“Our economy is developing rather well. We have enough money. Perhaps, we will need some consultations,” Putin said in Zurich, estimating the event would cost around €7.4 billion.

But Russia’s own media immediately asked whether the hefty price tag was acceptable as the country is on track to record a 4.6% deficit this year and already has a commitment to other extravagant projects like the Winter Olympics.

The practice of securing grandiose events “looks like the policy ofancient Roman patricians, whose communication with plebians focussed on giving the latter bread and circuses,” the Vedomosti daily wrote in an editorial.

“It ended badly for everyone.”

Building just the stadiums will require €2.8 billion, according to Russia’s bid. They will have to be built in far flung cities, from Yekaterinburg in the Urals to the southern regional centre of Krasnodar.

Russia’s Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the championships would cost “much less” than the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, which Putin personally helped secure for 2014.

Most of the venues, scattered around the country thousands of kilometres from one another, would have to be built from scratch, and it is no secret that their construction will be a fraction of the massive investment needed for roads, hotels, and other infrastructure.

The required tourist infrastructure would add another €8.2 billion, but what would make Russia really tighten its belt is the 7,711 kilometres of highways and 2,024 kilometres of railroads required by FIFA, wrote Vedomosti.

“That would cost about €26billion using average construction prices,” the paper said. The bottom line for the event could be €37billion , it calculated.