Zirve Eki - ISTANBUL REstate

51 GYODER
Gayrimenkul Zirvesi 10
Oturum Baflkan› : M. Emre Çaml›bel
Thank you. Say›n Schwartz'a teflekkür ediyoruz. Bir sonraki konuflmac›m›z George Leventis. Kendisi Langan Çevre
Mühendislik ve Müflavirlik Firmas› yönetim kurulu baflkan› ve kendisinin mühendislik alan›nda birçok ödülü var. Dünyan›n
birçok farkl› memleketinde, özellikle Ortado¤u'da, Amerika'da birçok projede çal›flmalar yapm›fl. En önemli özelliklerinden
biri de 2004 Atina Olimpiyatlar› organizasyon komitesi baflkan›ym›fl. fiimdi, olimpiyatlar›n bir flehrin sürdürülebilirli¤ine,
gelece¤ine etkisi ve baz› durumlar›na katk›s› oldu¤unu biliyoruz. Sydney Olimpiyatlar› da bunun için önemli bir örnek.
Tabii George'dan, Olimpiyatlar bittikten sonra o tesisleri ne yapt›klar›n› da duymak istiyoruz, sunumunun içerisinde.
Buyurun.
George E. Leventis
Langan International, Yönetim Kurulu Baflkan›
Well, I will make a quick correction. Thank you very much first.
I was not there for the end. I was there for the beginning of
the planning of the Olympics. And, when I was asked say a few
things about the Olympics, I put together a few bullets essentially
to guide us through telling you a little bit about what this
exercise is all about. The enormity of the logistical nightmare
that you are getting yourself into and all the things that one
needs to think of and plan ahead if they want to really take
advantage of the games. To give you a little bit background; I
am an engineer by training. I was born in Cairo. I grew up in
Greece. I went to university at Greece. The first project that I
did after university was to open the first gelato place in the
island of Mykonos. So, had nothing to do in engineering but
it was something I really enjoy doing and then I went and I did
my master's degree in the States. I ended up in New York where
I started working with Langan at the time. It was a relatively
small firm all about 35-40 people. Along the way, I was exposed
between dealing with geotechnical and foundation soil issues
to development and how do you develop land and environmental
issues. And in 1998, I was asked to go and become the director
general of Olympic Works for the Athens Organization
Committee. My wife told me I'm insane, especially taking into
consideration that politics come into play in a country like Greece
with an exercise like that, but being Greek and an engineer,
this was the ultimate challenge and honor.
So, let me try to tell you a little bit about what Olympics are all
about. So, these are the five key categories. I try to go quickly
through them. The host city contract is essentially an obligation
contract that you are asked to sign the day that you are selected
to be the city. And there is no way to deviate from it. Whatever
you propose plus a few other things that come along, you are
contractually obligated towards the IOC to do. Political influences,
the fun begins, quote and quote, after you get the games.
Because up until then, everybody theoretically is united towards
the exercise ...of doing, then of course now you got the games
and everyone from the little, you know, director general of a
small authority all the way to the prime minister, want the
15 Haziran 2010
limelight that comes with the Olympic games. So therefore,
problems begin which means that you better have the most
important issues boiled down and agreed upon ahead of time
because after, problems begin. Finances, everybody talks about
the financing of the games. The games have an Olympic budget
that comes with the Organizing Committee. In Athens, for
example, it was in the order of 2.4 billion Euros. For your
information, that budget does not cover anything related to
construction. It is purely for the organizing and the running of
the games. And therefore, the question that comes is that "who
pays for everything else" that comes with it; the infrastructure,
the venues etc etc etc. The theory behind it is that the IOC will
tell you "if you don't need all those things that will come because
of the games, don't ask to have the games." The games are the
catalyst for improvement and the betterment of life of the city.
And of course, as I was going to say later, the big thing is how
to avoid white elephants. Of course, immediately the idea comes
to mind about privatization. Certainly some of the venues can
be privatized because they have a post-Olympic use. That makes
sense and the developer can make money out of it. And there
are some things you cannot privatize. In Greece, for example,
they, I don't know, I think Turkey is probably a little bit like
Greece, you know, we leave things at the last minute. I think we
get a high out of it. So, the government decided to pass a law
that passed the few of the venues to the Olympic Organizing
Committee to build, without budget. That meant that the only