St. Petersburg, Sep 1 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev Saturday said the under-construction football stadium here “looks disgraceful” and would not receive more cash handouts from the government.
The stadium, set to be one of the arenas for the 2018 football World Cup, was originally supposed to be completed in 2008 but remains still unfinished while construction costs have soared to a reported 29 billion rubles ($886 million).
“It’s not just a long build, it looks disgraceful,” he said, adding that the federal government would now only lend money to the project, rather than provide grants.
“It’s not right just to come to the Russian Federation budget and say ‘give me extra money’,” Medvedev said.
The stadium’s capacity will be 68,000, increased from the original 62,000 to fit FIFA’s plans for the World Cup.
The completion date is set for 2014. The stadium was designed to look like a spaceship by renowned Japanese architect Kisho Kurosawa who died in 2007.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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