Posted Jan 25, 2022, 5:19 PMUpdated Jan 25, 2022, 5:20 PM
A new test that “pulls out”? After swimming, volleyball and badminton, Seine-Saint-Denis may well lose the organization of sports shooting events for the 2024 Olympic Games. The event is supposed to take place on the “Terrain des Essences”, a former army hydrocarbon supply center on the edge of Georges Valbon Park, in La Courneuve. 12 million euros of public money are also mobilized by Solideo to clean up the site for the Games. However, the possibility of moving the event to Chateauroux was raised by France Bleu Berry, following a visit by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (Cojo) on site.
A field finally too small
According to our information, the Cojo has not, at present, validated this possibility, but has nevertheless begun to study it, due to several operational hazards in the field of species. On the one hand, it appeared during the depollution work, carried out by the Olympic Works Delivery Company (Solideo) that this had been underestimated, the land being more contaminated with hydrocarbons and asbestos than foreseen.
On the other hand, it seems that the ground of Les Essences alone, with an area of 13 hectares, is ultimately not sufficient for the organization of shooting events, in particular for welcoming spectators. As the international sports shooting federation also refused to reduce the number of clay pigeon shooting tracks to two instead of three for the course of the event, the Cojo began to ogle in particular a bowling alley adjacent to the field and making part of the Georges Valbon Departmental Park.
However, the park is classified Natura 2000 and partly in a wetland sheltering a protected species (natterjack toads). The development of this space therefore requires specific environmental authorizations, which the Cojo fears may pose a problem or be issued too late to be able to respect the schedule. Hence the study of a possible plan B.
An emergency meeting is requested
An approach which, however, makes Stéphane Troussel, president of the Departmental Council of Seine-Saint-Denis, cringe. “When there are difficulties, we bring our partners together and we discuss them, we don’t start considering other plans without even consulting our partners,” he explains to Les Echos. The elected official also fears that this will “wake up the opponents of the Olympic Games who will inevitably see in it the proof that Seine-Saint-Denis is not at the heart of these Games. He claims to have requested an emergency meeting with all the project partners.
During a press conference, this Tuesday, January 25, Nicolas Ferrand, Executive Director of Solideo, wanted to be reassuring. “We are exactly on the schedule that we had contracted with Paris 2024”, he said, specifying that the overpollution of the site would not impact the deadlines and that the additional costs incurred would be amortized by drawing on an envelope of 100 million. euros, provisioned to compensate for contingencies. He also assured that, whatever happens, the land of Essences will be renatured as planned and integrated into the Georges Valbon park after 2024.
According to the Cojo, the priority remains to find solutions to maintain the event at La Courneuve. A final decision is expected in the coming weeks.
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