Rio Cancels Contract For Olympic Tennis Center Due To Delays

The city of Rio de Janeiro canceled the construction contract for the Olympic tennis center on Thursday, "just 200 days before the start of the games, fining the consortium responsible for delays and breach of contract for the mostly finished venue," according to Pedro Fonseca of REUTERS. Rio "slapped" an 11M reais ($2.7M) fine on the consortium. The consortium "is comprised of local builders IBEG Engenharia e Construções, Tangran Engenharia and Grupo Damiani." Rio City Hall, "which is responsible for the construction," did not say how the tennis center, which is 90% complete, will be finished. The consortium said in a statement it was "totally perplexed" by the canceled contract and planned to go to court seeking compensation from the city for financial losses and damage to the member companies reputations (REUTERS, 1/14).