Cuiaba, March 24 (IANS) Construction work on Brazil’s Arena Pantanal World Cup Stadium will be complete by April 26, less than seven weeks before football’s showpiece event begins, local officials have said.
A team of about 80 FIFA inspectors evaluated the venue in Brazil’s western city of Cuiaba Sunday and will submit a report to the local organising committee in the coming days, reports Xinhua.
“We are going to wait for the report and look carefully at the recommendations for improvements,” Mato Grosso governor Silval Barbosa was quoted saying by Estado de S. Paulo.
“We are going to act upon the suggestions that they made.”
According to officials, 97 percent of the stadium’s redevelopment is complete.
Of greatest concern to FIFA is the installation of the venue’s 41,390 seats. Only 13,000 have been fitted to date.
Arena Pantanal will host four World Cup group matches: Chile-Australia, Russia-South Korea, Nigeria-Bosnia and Japan-Colombia.
It is one of three World Cup stadiums yet to be completed, along with Curitiba’s Arena da Baixada and Sao Paulo’s Itaquerao.
The World Cup will be held in 12 Brazilian cities from June 12 to July 13.
