The tension of the 2014 football World Cup final will be nothing compared to the nail-biting race to see if Brazil can actually finish the stadiums on time, it seems.

With 755 days now to go until the tournament kicks off, Brazil’s ministry of sport has released another update on its preparations.

Of the 101 World Cup projects Brazil has planned, which include everything from new stadiums to transport improvements, construction has still not begun on about 41 per cent of them. Continue reading »

Brazil’s sports minister Orlando Silva said on Thursday a combination of factors including a hot construction industry was pushing up the cost of preparing for the soccer World Cup in 2014.

The government is building 2m new homes for its low-cost housing programme, “Minha Casa, Minha Vida”, or My House, My Life, as well as two of the world’s biggest hydropower plants. These projects and the strong economy have absorbed most of Brazil’s construction capacity, driving up costs, said Silva in a conference call with journalists.

The strange thing is that Silva’s estimates for the cost increase are so modest as to be hard to believe. Continue reading »