Russia 2018: Overspending of €66.5m on seven stadiums (Russia's state Audit Chamber)

The design of seven stadiums for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was over-billed by €66.5m (3.09bn roubles), Russia's state Audit Chamber reported on 20/06/2014. The new stadiums are in Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saransk, Kaliningrad and Rostov-on-Don; the stadium in Yekaterinburg is a renovation.

The audit of these seven stadiums, which began in March 2013, reveals that the actual cost of the stadium design was €58.8m, or 2.13 times less than the contracts signed in August 2013 (€125.3m). The building of five of the seven stadiums (Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Saransk) is being managed by the public company Sport Engineering.

The Russian Ministry of Urban Development, which chose Sport Engineering, refuted the finding of the Audit Chamber. He indicated that the evaluation was only focused on the design of the stadiums and not on projects that surround them.

Three stadiums out of 12 have already been built

• Kazan: Kazan Arena (Russian Republic of Tatarstan), inaugurated on 07/07/2013. The cost of construction, originally planned at €260m…