Heard in the Assembly by the working group on the Olympics and asked about the impact of inflation in the cost of construction and raw materials, Mr. Ferrand replied: "I would like the Solideo construction sites not to are not impacted, unfortunately they are".

Solideo is responsible for building or renovating structures for the Olympic Games, ranging from the athletes' village, to the renovation of gymnasiums or interchanges or road bridges, which represents around sixty structures.

Aerial view of the Olympic Village construction site in Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris, on April 8, 2021, Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP / Archives

It has a budget of 4 billion in current euros, recalled Mr. Ferrand, including 1.5 billion euros of public money.

"We have work that we are in the process of initiating today which is to assess the effective impact of the evolution of these indices on each of the sites for future expenditure and to see if we are still holding up with the updating the model (financial, editor's note) or whether to go back to it", he said.

In July 2021, Solideo revised its budget due to inflation.

This revision had led to an increase in the public part of 175 million euros to increase it from 1.38 billion to 1.55 billion euros.

"The mission we were given is in constant 2016 euros + you do not leave the financial model expressed in constant euros, the effects of inflation are external to you +", he explained.

"That, we absolutely hold it," he said.

"I insist, apart from inflation, there is no drift, there are no additional elements, no white elephant, model changes are exclusively linked to inflation", he said. -he adds.

President Emmanuel Macron (in the center) and Prime Minister Jean Castex as well as the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo are presented with the model of the Olympic village in Saint-Ouen, October 14, 2021 SARAH MEYSSONNIER POOL / AFP

Taking stock of the works, Mr. Ferrand also mentioned a "new construction site" which is "the connection of Bercy to the cold network of the city of Paris", "an essential subject for the Games".

"Today Bercy does not have several competitions in the same day and does not work in August," he said.

"We are working with the city of Paris to properly frame the financial amounts, which are at stake around 5 million euros," he said.

On February 10, environmentalists, turbulent allies of the PS mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, had underlined the weight of the 2024 Olympic Games for the finances of the City, reviewed by a report from the Regional Chamber of Accounts (CRC) .

Anne Hidalgo is president of Solideo.

© 2022 AFP