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from the beginning, the post-Olympic use of the venues and the constructions.
And we did that in a social manner. I mean we excluded fully, and we are
forbidding that by law, the conversion of the venues or the constructions of the
buildings in casinos, hotels, offices, and private houses. That is, whichever area
is being constructed, is being used for the Games, will be used after the Games
for the public and for private enterprises. This, in my opinion, was a very brave
decision. And it is brave, because it costs a lot of money for the government.
Because, if you exclude the private sector from the exploitation of what you are
constructing for the Games, then you have never the opportunity to collect money.
But, on the other hand, you have to take a very solid decision. Do you want the
Games to be used as an improvement for your city, to develop metropolitan parks,
to develop areas for the citizens? And the decision we took at that time, that
was at the beginning of the year 2000, was that we want to protect the public
character of the venues, and this is going to cost money for the government, and
it costs quite an amount of money.
And I will give you a number of examples. This is the existing coastal zone of
Athens, this is the Peace and Friendship Stadium - it is a stadium of a capacity of
15,000 spectators — which is used mainly as a basketball field, and this the coastal
zone, a part of the coastal zone, which is at the moment a very much degraded
area. I mean nobody could believe that. Athens is a coastal city, on the one hand,
and on the other hand, its front to the coast, at least part of it, is being degraded.
And this is the Horse Race Track Authority, that is horse competitions are taking
place here. So, this is the coastal zone of Athens, part of the coastal zone. And this
is the plan of the Games. This again the Peace and Friendship Stadium, and we are
developing a coastal part all over the place. The Horse Race Track Authority
is being removed. It is going to a different place outside Athens, and this reflects
an intervention, which is because of the Games, for the Games and will be a
legacy for the city of Athens and the citizens. This is going to be a metropolitan
park. There is nothing private on this site. Everything is being operated through
the public sector. This is going to cost money for the government - I said that
before — for the construction and for the operation and maintenance. But
then, you have a city, you have an area, where the citizens can go directly and
enjoy the sun, the sea, and the landscape.
Now, if I go again back to the map - and this is the area of the old airport
of Athens - this has been now terminate with respect to its operation — it is
being only hosting small aeroplanes, single-engine or double-engine, twin-engine
aeroplanes and that is going to be for ten more months. So, the old airport looks,
from an aerial photograph, like this. This is the old terminals, this is, of course,
the runways and this is another set of terminals up to the north or to the east
of the picture. And this is the existing picture. If you look at our plan for the
Games, we are using the old airport for the Games, and this is going be, well,
for the baseball and the softball. This, too, will be converted for the other sports,
for handball and basketball. So, we are using existing land and existing buildings,
so as to develop a number of venues for the Games.
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