Axel May 11:37 a.m., October 10, 2022

With less than two years to go before the Paris Olympics, construction sites are running at full speed, despite the threat of financial inflation due to the global economic context.

Europe 1 was able to visit the largest sites, including the future Olympic villages and aquatic center, in Seine-Saint-Denis.

Around 7,000 workers are currently working on the various sites of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The most emblematic are the media center, the Olympic village, the aquatic center, all in Seine-Saint-Denis, as well as in the North of Paris, the 'Arena de la Porte de la Chapelle'.

Objective: meet deadlines and not blow up budgets.

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The Olympic aquatic center is emerging from the ground in Saint-Denis, on the edge of the A1 motorway, opposite the Stade de France to which it will be connected by a steel footbridge, which was placed above the A1 this summer.

Quentin Gesell, mayor of Dugny in the 93, is vice-president of the Métropole du Grand Paris: "We can see all the diving boards that are already in place with the pit below being finished. We also have the view on the Olympic basin just in front of us and the bleachers around it, which are beginning to be deployed. We can very well imagine ourselves in 2024, with water polo, diving and synchronized swimming competitions".

Four emblematic projects for Paris 2024

Among the other most emblematic projects: the Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris, visible from the northern ring road, the media center located in Dugny, Le Bourget and La Courneuve, as well as the athletes' village, also on horseback. in three communes of Seine-Saint-Denis (Saint-Denis, L'Île-Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen).

Armelle Richardot supervises the construction sites on behalf of Solidéo, the company responsible for delivering the Olympic works.

“A certain number of projects have been launched. There are around 45 in progress. The deadlines have been met and we are therefore in the process of deliveries between the last quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024”.

Be careful to meet deadlines and the risk of budget slippage

As for the share of public financing, it should increase to take inflation into account, rising from 1.5 billion to 1.8 billion euros.

The overall budget of the Games (construction of structures and organization of the Olympics), mainly carried by the private sector, is estimated today at more than eight billion euros, when it was around 6.5 billion during the candidacy. .