Athens 2004 village boss sacking may spur project

The sacking of a government agency director in charge of building Greece's $260 million Athens 2004 Olympic Village could spur action on the delayed project, sources among the Games organisers said on Friday.

The village, which is the country's biggest ever housing project, is among several enterprises lagging despite repeated International Olympic Committee (IOC) warnings to Greece it has no more time to waste.

Giorgos Papavassiliou, president of the Organisation of Labour Housing (OEK) building the athletes' village at the foot of mount Parnitha north of Athens, submitted his resignation to new Labour Minister Dimitris Reppas on Thursday.

"Reppas wants to put his own man in charge to make the project run faster," a 2004 organising committee (ATHOC) source said.

A ministry source said the change at the helm of Greece's single biggest Olympic project was expected to make an immediate difference.

"Work is expected to be intensified after this," the source said.

ATHOC would not comment on the sacking officially but sources said Papavassiliou was blamed for a fight with the contractors this summer that put construction back for weeks just before a crucial IOC visit in September.

STOPPED WORKING
"In August (there was) a fight with the companies over costs and they stopped working. They started again just two days before the IOC visit after the minister himself intervened but we were not spared the IOC's negative comments," the source said.

Papavassiliou, contacted by Reuters, declined to comment.

The IOC last year issued Greece a veiled threat it might take the Games away over delays caused by in-fighting and bureaucracy. Although progress has since been made, Olympic officials have made clear not a single day can be wasted.

Despite a recent speed up of the village's construction, ministry officials said Reppas had demanded the resignation over delays, especially at the site's "international zone", which includes restaurants, shops and other public services.

"It's the biggest construction project and work must be intensified," the ministry official said.

The 1.2 million square metre village will include 2,292 houses capable of housing 17,300 athletes. Four construction firms have split up the project, whose deadline expires in November 2003.

A successor has not been named but the Greek press speculated on Friday that OEK's new director will be Thanassis Asimakopoulos, president of the Public City Planning Company, supervised by the Environment and Public Works ministry.

The appointment must be approved by Greek parliament and may take weeks.

Asked if this time-consuming change itself could put the project back, the ATHOC source said: "Construction has now picked up speed and very little can stop it."