France commits one billion euros for Paris 2024 Olympic bid

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Friday committed one billion euros on behalf of the French government to support Paris's bid to host the 2024 Olympics.

The French capital is one of four candidates including Budapest, Los Angeles and Rome to have submitted bids outlining their financing to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne on Friday.

"The State will bring two thirds of the necessary public funds, that is one billion euros, to finance equipment, and long term construction which will be useful to the population," Valls said, adding the funds would be released "between 2018 and 2024".

Valls said the northern Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, one of the poorest in France, would benefit from Paris hosting the games, notably through the construction of the Olympic Village there, which would be transformed into 5,000 homes.

Earlier an envoy for the Paris bid committee deposited the city's bid at the IOC's Swiss headquarters.

Stage three of the bid process on 'Games Delivery, Experience and Venue Legacy' will be ready on February 3, 2017, with the Evaluation Commission visiting bid cities in May and the final vote on September 13 in Lima.

Rome’s bid was dealt a potentially fatal blow in September, when the city’s new mayor Virginia Raggi refused to give the bid her formal backing.

“It is irresponsible to say yes to this candidature," Raggi told reporters. "We are effectively asking the people of Rome and of Italy to shoulder the debts [accrued by hosting the Games]. We just don't support it.”

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Date created : 2016-10-08