Separated only by the Guanabara Bay, the neighbouring cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói are now closer than ever. Friday morning, April 12th, the president of the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016™, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, received the Mayor of Niterói, Rodrigo Neves, and his team to strengthen ties between the parties.

Niterói was also represented by the Deputy Mayor of Niterói, Axel Grael, Secretary of Sports, Marcelo Ferreira, Accessibility Coordinator, João Carvalho, President of the Niterói Leisure and Tourism Company (Neltur), Paulo Freitas, and two-time Olympic sailing champion Torben Grael, who were present at the meeting.

Axel Grael presented the plan to integrate Niterói into the Rio 2016™ Olympic and Paralympic Games. This proposal is currently under analysis by the Rio 2016™ and should be launched the second week of May. “We´re preparing an action plan engaging all the secretariats. The plan will extend beyond sports”, said Axel.

Nuzman liked the project and placed the Organising Committee team at the disposition of the Niterói City Hall. “Congratulations for your work, for the detailed project. We have great interest in collaborating. I think it is important that we hold meetings with the specific areas of city hall and our departments so that we can see how we might collaborate in each area”, he said at the meeting´s end.

Mayor Rodrigo Neves spoke about the city´s commitment to the Olympic Games project and highlighted different points of the action plan, like investments in the areas of sports, tourism, culture, hospitality and infrastructure.

“In October, I´ll travel to China with the governor of Rio, Sergio Cabral, to survey the shipyards where seven new vessels were purchased by the State Government to facilitate access to Rio. The investment will change the transport paradigm between the cities. Today, we have seven vessels which are very old”, said Rodrigo. Each vessel has a 2 thousand person capacity. Two other vessels have a 500-person capacity and are being purchased by Niterói City from a shipyard in the state of Ceará.

Among the investments planned in sports are the temporary modular structure constructions of the Olympic Training Centre for Sailing, which will be installed at the Charitas beach, the construction of two sports centres, five sports fields, among others. Only counting the urban infrastructure, 700 million reais will be invested. “Now our goal is to hear the opinions of the Committee to make our project viable”, said Rodrigo.

Mayor of Niterói visit the headquarters of the Rio 2016 ™ and meets with directors to outline new plans (Lucas Freitas/Rio 2016™)

The Rio 2016™ team present at the meeting counted Patricia Hespanha, Director of Accommodations of the Rio 2016™ Organising Committee, and former Olympic handball athlete Bruno Souza, who is from Niterói and who works at Rio 2016™ as a Specialist in the Olympic Village Integration.

Hespanha and Agberto gave their opinions on their areas and reiterated the importance of having a large city like Niterói committed to the Olympic Games project.

“Already we have almost 400 rooms in six hotels in Niterói which were reserved by Games clients. Your search for more hotels is praiseworthy, however, to be used during the Olympic Games, you need to start building these hotels by the end of this year”, Hespanha warned, remembering that today Rio de Janeiro has 17 thousand three to five star hotel rooms available.

Agberto confirmed two sports which will benefit quite a bit from the partnership between Rio 2016™ and the city of Niterói: rugby and sailing. “The window of Pre-Games opportunities is very interesting and the time to seek new sites for training is now”, said Agberto.

During the meeting, sailor Torben Grael, winner of five Olympic medals and flag-bearer at the Opening Ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games 2004, informed President Nuzman that sailing teams from more than 20 countries including New Zealand, Japan, France, Italy, Ireland, the United State and Norway have contacted him. The teams are verifying the options and can stay in Niterói prior to and during the Rio 2016™ Games.