A wide swath of northern Italy will benefit from more than $1 billion in infrastructure development that the government has signed off on to improve access to the venues for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026. The decree sets aside 473 million euros ($560 million) for the Lombardy region, 325 million euros ($384 million) for the Veneto region, 120 million euros ($142 million) for the province of Trento and 82 million euros ($97 million) for the province of Bolzano. The venues for the games themselves will be financed privately according to the agreements with the International Olympic Committee. The 2026 Games' budget — which does not include the infrastructure spending — is 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion). Meanwhile, the IOC is still awaiting a response from the Italian government regarding accusations of political interference that could — under extreme circumstances — result in the country being stripped of hosting the 2026 Games.

Source: Fox News November 05, 2020 17:37 UTC