Brasília – This Friday (16th) in Belo Horizonte, 1,000 days away from the FIFA World Cup 2014, the Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff inspected the works at the Governador Magalhães Pinto Stadium, aka Mineirão, which will host one of the World Cup matches. The president also visited works to improve transportation and traffic in the city.
Dilma underscored that infrastructure works for the Cup stimulate the country to maintain its rate of growth. “To keep investing heavily in infrastructure works is part of our strategy to ensure that Brazil will maintain an adequate pace of development, to say no to the international crisis,” she said in her address.
During the ceremony, the president announced the allocation of 3.16 billion reals (US$ 1.83 billion) in funds of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) in Belo Horizonte, of which 1.14 billion reals (US$ 663 million) were provided by the governments of the state and municipalities. The investment will go to the implementation and revitalization of subway lines in Belo Horizonte, implementation of metropolitan bus terminals and complementing of the Lagoinha Complex.
Together with Pelé, the honorary ambassador of the World Cup, who also took part in the visit to Belo Horizonte, Dilma highlighted that they are both natives of the state of Minas Gerais, and that she is celebrating the 1,000 days for the Cup alongside a specialist in 1,000s, because Pelé scored 1,280 goals throughout his career.
The workers at Mineirão are on a strike this Friday, but the goverenor of Minas Gerais, Antonio Anastasia, said during his address that the works for the stadium, as well as other World Cup works, are “strictly on time.”
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
