English football club Chelsea, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, has temporarily frozen a project to build a new stadium in London. This was reported on the team’s website. “No further pre-design and planning work will be carried out. There is no time frame for revising this decision, ”the message says.
The project has been suspended due to “an unfavorable investment climate,” the report said.
In turn, the sources of the Financial Times newspaper linked the decision of the club with the uncertainty in the issue of issuing a new British visa to Abramovich. According to a person close to the club’s management, Abramovich needs guarantees of obtaining documents and while he does not want to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in the construction of the stadium… As the newspaper notes, the sources of funding for the project had not previously been disclosed, but the newspaper’s interlocutors said that Abramovich, possibly with other investors, could cover the costs.
Chelsea officials declined to comment on the FT’s decision to freeze the project. Issues related to Abramovich’s visa, the football club called “a private matter” of the businessman.
Roman Abramovich’s British investor visa expired in April, and the issuance of a new one was delayed, reported earlier andSources The Bell, Reuters, Bloomberg, BBC. Due to visa problems, the businessman missed the Chelsea match, which was held in London on May 19, FT wrote. The Telegraph suggested that Abramovich’s documents were sent for additional verification and he may have to confirm the legality of the funds invested in British assets. In turn, Abramovich at the end of May began the process of obtaining Israeli citizenship. An Israeli passport allows enter the UK for up to six months. One FT source said the businessman applied for Israeli citizenship before the British visa issue became known.
London authorities have allowed Abramovich to build a new stadium on the site of his current home arena, Stamford Bridge. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the new stadium would become “a jewel in London’s sports crown.” As I wrote The Telegraph, on construction will spend 1 billion pounds (about $ 1.3 billion). According to the Financial Times, the project is worth £ 500 million (about $ 650 million).
According to Forbes, Abramovich’s fortune is $ 10.8 billion. In the ranking of the richest businessmen in Russia, he is in 11th place.
What is Stamford Bridge now
Stamford Bridge has been Chelsea’s home arena since 1905. It is located in London’s Fulham area along the north bank of the Thames.
Initially, the stadium only held 5,000 spectators. Subsequently, it was rebuilt several times. The oval shape of the stadium was abandoned. Now it is a rectangle with stands that are as close as possible to the field. With a capacity of 41,000 spectators, the stadium is the ninth largest football stadium in the UK. The capacity of the new arena should be 60,000 people.
Residents of houses who are against the construction located next to Stamford Bridge. The new stadium is planned to be one tier higher than the current one, etc.It will drop 50 houses from it. The leadership Chelsea I had to negotiate with every family living next to the stadium. In exchange for compensation tobast received building permits from all neighbors, except for the owners of the house closest to the stadium. The Croswaite family filed a lawsuit, because of this, the start of construction work was delayed, the BBC reported. The parties have not yet agreed.
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