August 25 – Samara’s World Cup stadium has fallen 30 days behind its construction schedule, the contractor of the venue has announced. The venue is set to host six matches, including a quarter-final, during the 2018 World Cup.
“We would have liked a faster construction pace,” Sergei Ponomaryov, the deputy head of general contractor PSO Kazan, told reporters. “We have calculated that we are behind by about 30 days.”
Construction at the 45,000-capacity stadium has been plagued by delays over the past months, but Ponomaryov emphasised that the venue would be ready by the time of the delivery date later this year.
Nikolai Merkushkin, the Governor of the Samara region, cited the poor weather in recent months as the reason for the delay. He vowed construction would be back on track next month.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko said in July that he was not concerned by the progress at the Samara Arena.
This summer a fire broke out at the construction site, but no damage was caused. The Samara Arena, together with Volvograd, is among a few venues that have caused organisers headaches.
FIFA announced that the main framework of the venue is nearly finished, with 95 of the 96 blocks making up the dome structure in place. It is also one of the venues where the pitch has been laid yet.
Earlier this summer the Ekaterinburg Arena, the Rostov Arena, the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium and the Kaliningrad Stadium all made progress in laying pitches. Work on the venues in Yekaterinburg and Rostov is also reported to have progressed well.
The stadium in Samara, the sixth largest city in Russia, will cost a reported $320 million to build. Samara will form part of the central cluster of venues with Saransk, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod. The stadium is to house Russian Premier League side Krylya Sovetov after the tournament.
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