Produce 64 works in five years. As soon as its candidacy was selected in 2017 for the 2024 Paris Olympics, France was asked, like the other host countries before it, to adapt its legislative arsenal to complete the works within this limited time. The rule is specified in Article 33 of the Olympic Charter issued by the IOC (International Olympic Committee).
“This law gives us the tools to deliver the works by December 31, 2023, it is not an exceptional law but an Olympic law” estimates Isabelle Vallentin, deputy general manager of Solideo, which manages the Olympic works. . Voted on March 26, 2018, it applies to equipment under construction or renovation used for the Olympic Games, three quarters of which are in Seine-Saint-Denis.
“Leaving the Athletes’ Village on time”
The thirty-three contracting authorities – Solideo, which builds the main structures such as the Athletes’ Village and the Media Village, local authorities, including the Greater Paris Metropolis for the Olympic swimming pool – can draw on this law which reduces and secures town planning procedures which are often deemed to be very long.
Among these “derogatory” measures, the “extreme emergency expropriation process” – which was not used for either the Athletes’ Village or the Media Village -, the use of public consultations by electronic means, or the design-build procedure for public facilities (gymnasium, school, etc.) without any technical conditions.
Finally, the “dual status” permit allows a single planning authorization for two destinations: the Games phase and the heritage phase (transformation into housing). “It facilitates the administrative steps, economically secures the private operators to whom we have transferred land charges, and any appeals are cleared in one go. It is essential to get the Athletes’ Village out on time, ”explains Isabelle Vallentin, who welcomes “building permits processed in three to four months”.
Simplify
The State has also simplified litigation by removing, via a decree, the Administrative Court stage for a direct judgment by the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal, which has the capacity to be faster. “But this does not serve one or the other of the parties, the principles of law are respected”, advances Agathe Sakoun, deputy general secretary of Solideo. This does not prevent heavy litigation, such as the suspension since March of work on the Aubervilliers swimming pool or the loss of four months last year on the Media Village site.
The law raises, however, the ire of certain associations. “There is a form of haste”, denounces Cécile Gintrac, spokesperson for the JO Saint-Denis Vigilance Committee, who criticizes “minimum online consultations and the short time to study the files”.
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