St. Petersburg said on Friday that it has "fired the general contractor building a trouble-plagued stadium" which is to host World Cup matches in '18, according to the AP. The stadium, provisionally called Zenit Arena, has "taken almost a decade to build," prompting PM Dmitry Medvedev to publicly call it "disgraceful." The stadium, which is to host a semifinal match, "is set to cost" more than 39B rubles ($620M). Until the ruble "dropped sharply" in value in '14 against the backdrop of int'l sanctions and a low oil price, the "same ruble budget" was worth more than $1B, making it "one of the most expensive" football stadiums in history. St. Petersburg City Hall said in a statement that it is firing Transstroy, the general contractor, "over the repeated delays and cost overruns." City Hall also said that "it has gone to the police" because it has allocated $39M for the construction which has been unaccounted for. Along with the missing money, the city hall said that "there are only 1,200 workers at the construction site, not 3,000 as the city thinks there needs to be to complete the construction on time." Vadim Tyulpanov, the chair of the Russian parliamentary commission overseeing the World Cup preparations, said after a tour of the construction site that the city hall's decision "could mean that St. Petersburg would not be able to host the Confederations Cup as planned." Tyulpanov said that the stadium is 85% complete. Russian news agencies on Friday quoted Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko as saying that "he trusts the city government and would not interfere." Mutko: "The governor has given his guarantees, training and test events are scheduled, and the Confederations Cup is set to be held in St. Petersburg" (AP, 7/15).
