Preparations for Brazil’s 2007 Pan Am Games get cracking

Brazil is since now getting set for the 2007 Pan American Games by commencing groundbreaking works on the spot where the Sport Village will be located.

The villa supposed to make athletes feel as snug as bugs in a rug will be built in a 423,000-square-meter area in Barra de Tijuca, a residential zone some 50 miles from downtown Rio de Janeiro where almost two thirds of sport competitions are expected to take place.

Construction works will start in the first half of 2004 and should be finished by December 2006. The village will boast 28 buildings with 25 of them reserved for housing athletes. The 2,000 one-to-four-bedroom apartments could lodge as many as 8,240 people in all.

The whole project calls for an $80 million investment package and foresees expansion possibilities in case the city of Rio de Janeiro wins the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.