Itaquerão stadium: prosecutor already talking about total closure.

The reason given was an irregular alteration made by the construction company Odebrecht, responsible for last week's accident, to the original project; "It's not a small change. They requested a permit for one project and are building another," said prosecutor Marcelo Milani, who advocated for a complete shutdown, "as always happens"; the construction's status with the São Paulo city hall is considered clandestine; a major problem for FIFA, on the eve of the World Cup draw and the definition of the groups.

December 01, 2013, 10:43 AMUpdated May 27, 2019, 08:16 AM

The reason given was an irregular alteration made by the construction company Odebrecht, responsible for last week's accident, to the original project; "It's not a small change. They requested a permit for one project and are building another," said prosecutor Marcelo Milani, who advocated for a complete shutdown, "as always happens"; the construction's status with the São Paulo city hall is considered clandestine; a major problem for FIFA, on the eve of the World Cup draw and the definition of the groups (Photo: Leonardo Attuch)

247 - With less than a week to go before the draw for the 2014 World Cup groups and the host cities for the national teams, FIFA has a major problem to solve. It appears that the Public Prosecutor's Office has decided to tighten its oversight of the Itaquerão stadium in São Paulo and intends to take action to halt construction altogether.

According to a report by journalist Rogério Pagnan, from Folha de S. Paulo (read here According to the full report, the Public Prosecutor's Office found that the construction work had been irregularly altered by the Odebrecht construction company, which was also responsible for the accident that killed two workers last week. Because of this, it is expected to request a complete halt to the stadium construction.

The list of modifications to the original project includes a reduction in capacity to 46.116 people and a decrease in parking spaces from 3.702 to 2.943. "It's not a small change. They applied for a permit for one project and are building another," said prosecutor Marcelo Milani. "I'm not going to say it's illegal. But it's irregular. If there's an accident at an irregular construction site, it needs to be shut down, as always happens," he said.

The construction company, in turn, argued that these are natural changes in a large-scale project, but the risk of complete closure threatens the opening of the World Cup in São Paulo. As for FIFA's Plan B, the stadiums in Brasília, Mineirão, and Maracanã are also being considered.

In Rogério Pagnan's report, the Housing Prosecutor José Carlos Freitas was also interviewed, and he was even more harsh in his criticism. "The construction is irregular, it's illegal," said the prosecutor, who It also detected problems in the approved land occupation area and the area that Corinthians claims to be occupying.