2023-12-31 15:10:42
The Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is entering the home stretch. Following him, a whole procession of companies, from large groups to SMEs. According to the organizers, 181,000 jobs will have been necessary to prepare and ensure the smooth running of the event. Likewise, thousands of contracts have been awarded for more than five billion euros.
Mobilized in particular for the extension of automatic metro line 14, which will connect Orly airport to Saint-Denis Pleyel from June, the construction giants appear at first glance to be the big winners. Bouygues and Vinci have obtained the concession for the Stade de France, which will host the athletics events and the closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
New sports infrastructures
Bouygues won the construction of the aquatic center, the cost of which came to just over 170 million euros, entirely covered by the State. The group has also been appointed to build the Arena, where badminton, parataekwondo and parabadminton events will take place. A project estimated at around one hundred million euros. With a capacity of 8,000 seats, the hall, which is located between the Chapelle and Aubervilliers gates, will be used for basketball after the Olympics and will also host concerts.
Vinci, who was also a candidate for these two projects, did not come out of the calls for tenders empty-handed. He participated in the creation of the Olympic village, installed in three municipalities, Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine and L’Île-Saint-Denis, and which will then be converted into a residential and activity district. Others have also been selected such as Nexity, the Pichet Legendre duo, CDC Habitat and Eiffage, which is also building the footbridge over the A1 motorway linking the Stade de France to the aquatic center. However, there remains the challenge of marketing housing and offices after the Olympics, which will not be an easy task in the current real estate context.
Sodexo promises “a culinary feat”
There are also businesses that will be operating at full capacity during the event. This is the case, for example, of Sodexo, the collective catering giant, which is already talking about a “culinary feat”, even if we don’t know what will be on the plates. The group has been designated to feed the 15,000 athletes who will compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as the general public at 14 competition venues.
In total, Sodexo is committed to recruiting 6,000 people, in all catering professions: reception, service, cooking, washing, but also logistics. A challenge in a sector where the labor shortage is glaring. At the request of the Organizing Committee, the group also committed to recruiting 15% of its workforce for the Olympic Games from people far from employment or living in priority neighborhoods. A recruitment campaign was launched internally and among people who already work for the group during major events.
From 20,000 to 30,000 security agents on sites
Other sectors will also be on the front line, notably security, with between 20,000 and 30,000 agents present every day on the sites during the competition. While 15 million visitors are expected, we are also thinking, obviously, of tourism, which expects increased visibility in the long term.
However, quantifying the overall impact for the French economy appears delicate. The Limoges Center for Sports Law and Economics, for example, put forward a range between 5.3 billion euros and 10.7 billion euros for Île-de-France alone. The Asterès firm is counting on a contribution of 8.7 billion euros for the country. Published last July, a study by the Banque de France shows that 28% of business leaders believe that holding the Games will have an impact on their activity.
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