Problems Shroud Turin Games

Recent Olympics have followed a regular pattern. The granting of the games is greeted with great fanfare, with the host city promising that its event will be the best ever. Further down the line, though, organisers face problems - typically, budgetary concerns, construction delays, political wranglings or corruption allegations. Turin, host of the 2006 Winter Olympics, has been beset by them all.

Just when the International Olympic Committee was congratulating itself on the successful staging of the Athens games after a precarious build-up it is again having to deal with uncertainties involving a host city.

Organisers in Turin have insisted that the games are on track despite a $242m (£125m) shortfall in an overall budget of $1.1bn and a police investigation into allegations of bid fixing for infrastructure contracts.

Sergio Chiamparino, the mayor of Turin and a member of the games organising committee Toroc, threatened last week that at its next meeting on December 21 the Toroc board would be unable to approve the revised and inflated budget without further spending commitments from sponsors and the Italian government.

"Before December 21 there must be certainties, or at least precise commitments from sponsors and the government, or the conditions for approving the budget will not be there," he said.

Chiamparino, whose city is perhaps best known for Fiat, Juventus and the holy shroud, has staked a great deal on staging a successful winter games. Just as London plans to do if it wins the 2012 summer games, Turin is using the impetus of the games to regenerate swaths of industrial wasteland.

The looming deadline for the opening ceremony of February 10, 2006, has spurred on public projects including extending the motorway from Turin to Pinerolo, a town at the foot of the Alps where Britain will defend the curling title Rhona Martin and her rink won in Salt Lake City two years ago.

"When the games end, we'll be left with buildings we can use as sports complexes, concert halls, university residences and houses," Chiamparino said. "But just as importantly the Olympics should give a huge boost to tourism by giving Turin the chance to show it is a modern city, brimming with culture and life, not an old factory churning out cars."

However, only 20% of the 69 Olympic venues have been completed and there remain doubts about whether there will be enough accommodation in Sestriere, which will host the Alpine skiing events.

In answer to claims that Turin will not be ready in time, Valentino Castellani, head of Toroc, said that Italians were used to leaving things late but that everything would be completed in time for the opening ceremony.

He is also in no doubt that the Italian government will help to make up the financial shortfall. "I'm rather confident [the budget problem] will be resolved in the coming weeks, before the end of the year," he said. "I don't see any scandal, any particular insoluble difficulties.

"I can't believe for a country like Italy that this will be a problem. In this country, a southern country, we are a little bit, not like Athens, but we are also people of the last minute."

Games organisers can claim with some justification that they have been hit by bad luck. Alitalia, Italy's national airline, had to withdraw its $7.7m sponsorship deal after the state-owned company reached the brink of bankruptcy.

Then there was the bobsleigh track, the location of which had to be moved last year. The 1,405-metre run was due to be carved out of the rocks at the Sauze D'Oulx ski resort but, when engineers dug down they discovered a field of asbestos and called a halt.

This being Italy, it is also no surprise there has been a political dispute. The left-wing Castellani, a former mayor of Turin, offered to resign from Toroc last month after the right-leaning government appointed Mario Pescante, culture ministry undersecretary and an influential IOC member, as overall supervisor of the games. Castellani agreed to stay on after being reassured that Pescante would not undermine his position.

Among other issues organisers have had to deal with is a police raid on the offices of Agenzia Torino 2006, the company contracted by the Italian government to build the 65 infrastructure projects needed for the games.

Police have notified nine executives that they are under formal investigation for allegedly fixing bids and abusing their authority.

Castellani has said that, while there was a "risk to the image of the Olympic games", the investigation related only to road works and not directly to the event itself.

In an echo of visits to Athens during the run-up to this year's summer games, Jean-Claude Killy, the French skiing legend who is the chairman of the IOC's co-ordination commission, has constantly expressed concerns about Turin's progress towards the 2006 games but always concluded that everything will be fine.

"There is still much work to be done but I remain confident that everything can be completed on time, as long as we make the most of every moment between now and the games," Killy said after a visit there last week.

The one thing that Killy and his IOC colleagues can rely on is that, as Salt Lake City and Athens proved, everything usually turns out all right in time for the opening night.

Winter of discontent

Accommodation

A new law was needed to help ease the issuing of rental contracts and construction permits after fears over a shortage of accommodation and long driving distances.

Budget

There is a $242m shortfall in the budget and it cannot be approved without further spending commitments from sponsors and the Italian government, Turin's mayor Sergio Chiamparino has said.

Corruption

Agenzia Torino 2006, the organisation in charge of supervising infrastructure construction, is being investigated over suspicions that some officials took bribes to rig bids for road-building.

Politics

Valentino Castellani, the former left-wing mayor of Turin, briefly resigned after the right-wing government appointed an IOC member to oversee things. He returned after being reassured that it was not a sign of distrust.

Promotion

The IOC president Jacques Rogge has told officials that they need to do a better job of promoting the games.

Venues

The IOC coordination commission has said that it is impressed by the works already completed for the games but warns that construction deadlines are very tight.