To build a stadium for 30-40 thousand people two, or two and half a year is enough- said in the interview of ‘Rzeczpospolita’ Heinz Palme, the chairman of company ‘Austria przy Pilce’ which coordinates preparations of Austria to Euro 2008 finals.
– Every organizer of championships has a similar problem as Poland. We also have elections and changes of government. In Klagenfurt we managed to begin works at the last moment because first environmentalists protested, politicians quarreled and then documentation concerning a tender leaked out to the press and a court had to intervene. UEFA demands building of stadium for one year before the sports event- we can work longer on its infrastructure- but it’s understanding.
-All stadiums apart from the one in Vienna have capacity of 30-40 thousand. Two and half a year for building such object is enough. In Zurich we managed to do it in two years- added Austrian.
– I think that stadiums aren’t the major problem of Poland and Ukraine. They will be built for sure. Instead of that we should worry about roads, airports, ect. In reply to a question concerning problems during preparations to the world championships in Germany Palme thinks that comparison to Germany isn’t a good idea.
– They hit on idea to do the 2006 World Cup in the mid-90s and started doing plans.
Besides they had Beckenbauer who managed to organize everything and had experts such as Secretary-General of German Football Federation Horst Schmidt who has been send to save the World Cup in the Republic of South Africa. Palme is surprised that Poles want to economize on expensive help from abroad.
–Experts are very expensive. We spend amounts of money which run into millions of euro, but it’s worth. We pay to save on something else. Ask for help is not a shame. Even Germany asked me Austrian for help. It wasn’t easy for them because managers especially those from Bundesliga were convicted that they did everything the best in the world and they didn’t need advice.