Kiev - Ukrainian engineers on Wednesday completed demolition work adjacent to a stadium critical for the Euro 2012 football tournament, within a tough deadline set by the UEFA. UEFA officials had made removal in three months of a partially-built shopping centre next to Kiev's Olympic Stadium a key condition for allowing Ukraine to remain a co-host for the tournament.
Poland and Ukraine were named UEFA 2012 host nations by the UEFA in 2007.
Ukrainian demolition teams using cranes, excavators, and bulldozers worked without a break over 100 days to flatten the reinforced framework concrete of the massive shopping centre, which UEFA said had to go in order to make the adjacent stadium safe to evacuate in an emergency.
Little remained of the centre but piles of rubble. Work already was in progress clearing debris and renovating the stadium itself, with crews replacing Soviet-era bleachers with modern seats, eyewitnesses said.
The 84,000-seat Olympic Stadium in the Ukrainian capital is set to be a game venue for dozens of international ties, including the Euro 2012 final.
Disputes over land ownership in Kiev, and subsequent lawsuits, delayed removal of the shopping centre for months, and threatened to put the UEFA's decision to make Ukraine a Euro 2012 host in jeopordy.
The Olympic Stadium project remains legally troubled, with Taiwan's Archasia construction company still in court alleging the Ukrainian government reneged on a construction contract to hire German Gerkan, Marg und Partner (GMP) to do the job instead.
The work order with GMP calls for three phases to modernize the stadium, starting with a 60-day planning period, followed by a 180- day design period, and concluding with blueprint production and ground-breaking, and actual construction.
Ukrainian sports officials - most of whom support GMP's nomination as general contractor - have argued Archasia signed a contract with the wrong Ukrainian government ministry, an allegation rejected by Archasia's lawyers.
