How much do they cost? Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics? According to the dossier that won the assignment in Lausanne in 2019, 92.6 million would have been spent on the six “Olympic works”. Today, however, the “bill” reached 1.3 billion of Euro. In the middle, however, there is an argument to be made because not only the final accounts have multiplied but also the works which have reached 16. And in those ten more, the road and railway works weigh heavily: a round billion.
Increased costs
Yet the costs of “Olympic works” in the strict sense have also increased: from the 92 million above, for those six original interventions, it reached over 216 million. As? For example with the transition from the “redevelopment of the Eugenio Monti bobsleigh track” (47.7 million) foreseen in the 2018 Olympic dossier to the new Sliding Center which will cost 124.7 million. The old runway could not be “redeveloped” given that the state of the infrastructure was now close to that of a wreck and, above all, because the system for icing the runway could not be ammonia-based but glycol-based to avoid environmental risks. But bobsleigh is not the only “responsible” despite the well-known events that almost led to the races being moved to Sankt Moritz due to the budget being too “limited” according to the companies. Even the Verona Arena, site of the closing ceremony, saw the final count go from just over one million to over 20. Here the theme is that of the accessibility of the Roman amphitheater and the initial estimates, evidently, were heavily revised with an expansion, also in this case, of the planned intervention.
Complementary works
So far the part that interests the IOC but, then, politics decided and almost entirely financed the rest, i.e. the complementary works. There are, in fact, at least two other chapters which were not in the Lausanne dossier and which pertain to the so-called “legacy”, the “legacy” that the Games will leave to the territories. The first involves a series of 4 interventions on the town of Cortina. Starting from the “integrated system for intermodal mobility” which includes the Apolonnio-Socrapes ski lift but also a 747-space car park and a “fast” pedestrian connection, a sort of moving walkway on the model of the airport ones, to connect the parking in the center of the Ampezzo town. This is a public-private partnership project financed with 127 and a half million. To which are added three redevelopments: residential properties for half a million, a former bakery for 7 million and a former Piazza Mercato for 7.5 million.
The Report episode
If this is the “legacy” in Cortina, a transport revolution is coming for the entire Venetian mountain. The stations of Longarone, Ponte nelle Alpi, Belluno and Feltre were redeveloped but, above all, the two variants of Longarone and Cortina were created. This is the evolution of the initial Olympic dossier which, however, continues to cause discussion. In recent days an episode of Report that has put the spotlight back on the topic complete with “mystery” and controversy with the MIT, the Ministry of Infrastructure, which reiterates that it has provided the transmission with all the requested data (which has already been published some time ago on the Simico website and recently summarized in summary sheets). Report says, however, that the email never arrived. In fact, the costs of today’s Winter Olympics are the same as those of 2023 when the Prime Ministerial Decree Meloni added around one billion (reaching 1.3 billion) to cover the high cost of materials linked to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
The Venetian match
So far the expense column but, underlines the President of the Region, Luca Zaia, «Veneto, on this match which, between works, GDP movements and international visibility, is worth between 2 and a half billion and 3 billion euros, It weighs 23 million euros on regional coffers. Which means it’s an absolutely active game for us. Just think about the infrastructure front. And let’s not forget that there will be great visibility for the entire region. They are sustainable Olympics because they are widespread, all that remains is to wait until February 6, 2026 for the inauguration.”
