in Vaires-sur-Marne, a 100 million euro development for the canoe-kayak site – Libération

2024-04-04 08:07:35

Regional president Valérie Pécresse detailed on Wednesday April 3 the final addition to the modernization work on the Seine-et-Marne site which will host the canoe-kayak and slalom events this summer.

The Vaires-sur-Marne site will not have escaped the rule. The Seine-et-Marne nautical base, which will host the canoeing and rowing events during the next Paris Olympics, officially joins the list of Olympic projects which will have seen their budgetary roadmap revised upwards. When it comes time to do the accounts, some 100 million euros will have been spent as part of the Paris Olympic Games on development work, calculated the president of the Île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse on Wednesday April 3.

Started in 2015, the projects were financed almost exclusively by the region, owner of the nautical base. Originally set at 75 million euros in the application file, the bill was revised upwards several times. An initial additional cost of 15 million euros was recorded in 2018, with the Region justifying it by the fact that certain lines of the budget as presented in the initial version had been underestimated.

“These were investments planned by the Île-de-France region but not on this scale. The fact that we had the Olympic Games, we said to ourselves that we (were) going to really pull out all the stops and ensure that it meets the standards of the international federations, the Olympic standards, defended ourselves against the press Valérie Pécresse during an on-site visit. We will have 36,000 visitors (maximum per day, editor’s note) during the Games but we also hope to have hundreds of thousands who will come to practice all sports on this island.

Whitewater stadium

Used for rowing competitions since 1991, the body of water located east of Paris benefited from a major overhaul, inaugurated in 2019, to host Olympic events. The lake, where the canoe-kayak and rowing races will take place, has been reworked. A whitewater stadium has also been created for canoe-kayak slalom.

On the whitewater stadium, several French and foreign kayakers trained this Wednesday of the Games under the eyes of Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet, himself a three-time Olympic canoe slalom champion. “They managed to combine two issues, the very high level but also the possibility of initiation for all audiences. This site is intended to be used by the general public,” Tony Estanguet, present at a sporting event with schoolchildren, told journalists.

The stands which will welcome spectators for the Olympic Games (July 26-August 11) are just beginning to be erected on the five-hectare site. It will also host the para canoeing and para rowing competitions during the Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8). After this event, the Vaires-sur-Marne nautical stadium will host the European Rowing Championships in May 2025.