The Nizhny Novgorod Stadium visited by a foreign media delegation

A media trip of international news agencies has started in Russia, which is organized by FIFA and LOC in each of the cities to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Nizhny Novgorod is the second city to have been visited by the media delegation after Moscow.

The delegation consists of around 30 journalists. These include journalists from the leading global news agencies such as AFP (France), DPA, EPA, GES-Sportfoto from Germany, Getty Images and Reuters from the USA, Kyodo news (Japan), Xinhua (China), and also Russian media such as TASS, R-sport, Interfax.

In the main office at the construction site a mockup of the future stadium and adjacent area was presented to the journalists. A briefing was then held with Vyacheslav Velichko, Stroytransgaz’ Construction Deputy CEO, and Dmitry Svatkovsky, Nizhny Novgorod Region Deputy Governor, answering questions from the journalists.

A major question was adherence to the stadium construction schedule and resources used. “Today, we have 480 people at the site,” said Vyacheslav Velichko. “Over 50 people are at the manufacturing jobsite where some preparation to the construction is carried out. We are fully sticking to the schedule as defined by the public contract and even planning to commission the arena two months ahead of the schedule. According to the schedule, at times of peak demand there will be up to 1,500 people working here. We are dividing work into three phases, a major one being the installation of MEP systems. We are working simultaneously on this. If needed, we will use more workers, up to two thousand people,” he said.

The Nizhny Novgorod Region Deputy Governor told the journalists how the regional authorities were planning to develop the stadium infrastructure and how the stadium would be used after the World Cup was over. Construction of a metro station near the stadium has already been started, which will increase the throughput capacity of Nizhny Novgorod metro by 30%. “Stadium usage plans for the time after the World Cup will be developed two years before the event. In June through July 2016. The city hosts a lot of exhibitions and events. We expect that the stadium will host, at minimum, 100 events a year, including 30 football games,” said Dmitry Svatkovsky.

According to a FIFA’s survey, 83% of the population of the region support holding games of the world championship in Nizhny Novgorod, said the Deputy Governor. “This is the highest figure in Russia,” he stressed.