Athens chief: Games will be ready

LONDON (Reuters) -- The Athens Olympic Games in 2004 will go ahead as planned and on schedule, the head of the organising committee said on Thursday.

"Athens has made significant progress towards a safe, secure, technically excellent Olympic Games in 2004," ATHOC chief Gianna Angelopoulos told a news conference.

"We will be ready on time ... over the past few months we have moved from planning to implementation."

Earlier this week, Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis warned his ministers to speed up preparations for the Games and said they might have to resort to "drastic measures" to get the Olympics ready for the August 2004 start date.

"Don't worry, by the Games time everything will be ready," Angelopoulos said.

"No project is behind schedule. What is good news is that the prime minister is heavily involved in the whole project."

An International Olympic Committee inspection team will visit Athens on November 6. Two years ago the IOC told organisers they could lose the Games if they did not accelerate preparations.

Angelopoulos was asked about the Elgin Marbles, the classical treasures taken from the Athens Acropolis in the 19th century, which are now in the British Museum in London.

She said she was hoping for a "complete performance" at the Olympics and a "complete" Parthenon was part of that hope.

Greenpeace: Olympics not environmentally friendly

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greenpeace on Thursday warned that organizers of the 2004 Olympics were not keeping promises to build sports venues and other facilities that are friendly to the environment.

The environmental group alleged the Greek government had forsaken earlier promises on the issue in an effort to meet tight construction deadlines. Building crews have been working overtime in an effort to make up for years of delays at major sports venues and other facilities.

"The government simply wants to finish the works in time, independent of their quality and their environmental effects," said Nikos Haralambidis, a spokesman for Greenpeace in Greece.

He also charged that the Athens organizing committee, run by Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, was standing idly by. Haralambidis claimed the International Olympic Committee was also at fault for failing to ensure the government was building environmentally friendly facilities.

"Athens 2004 is watching silently, without daring or action as all the environmental standards it had set out are violated," he said.

One example, he said, was the Olympic Village which is to house 17,300 athletes and officials. Being built at the foothills of a forested mountain about 25 kilometers (13 miles) north of Athens, the village has no plans for solar power systems or water recycling.

Haralambidis said such systems would not significantly increase construction costs for the village.

Greenpeace will meet with the IOC in Athens next week and at their headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss the issue, he said.

The Athens Organizing Committee had no immediate comment to Greenpeace's claims.

Environmental concerns have become a growing priority for Greeks, especially in the congested capital.

Athens is home to nearly five million people and about two million cars. Traffic congestion and a lack of greenery are two of its biggest problems.

 

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.