Odebrecht Says it Will Pay Maracanã Stadium's US$ 316,000 Electric Bill

01/27/2017 - 16h51

The Maracanã S.A. consortium, which is led by Odebrecht, promised it would pay off R$ 1 million (US$ 316,000) in debt, owed to electricity company Light. The stadium's electricity supply got cut off.

In a statement, the concessionaire said the Rio-2016 Olympic Committee is liable for the debt. "According to the Terms of Use (TAU - Termo de Autorização de Uso) - the document regulating usage of the stadium during the Olympics - the Rio-2016 Olympic committee is liable for all expenditures incurred regarding maintenance and public services. According to the Terms of Use, the committee will be liable until all repairs, as well as debts, have been taken care of", the company said.

The Committee claims it handed administrative duties of the Maracanã stadium back to the concessionaire in the beginning of November.

The consortium, on the other hand, refused to take over its administrative duties since it considered the Committee violated the deal.

"The Committee has already taken care of all debts it owed Light. Maracanã Stadium's power got cut because Odebrecht hasn't paid its bills since November", retorted Mario Andrada, the Committee's director of communications.

Concessionaire Maracanã S.A. was forced to take over administration of the stadium on January 16th, following an injunction issued by judge Fernanda Lousada of the 4th Court of the Public Treasury of the state of Rio de Janeiro.

The stadium, which had been abandoned up until then, has been burglarized over the last month.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

Read the article in the original language