Eduardo Bandeira de Melo again criticises Flamengo stadium plan | OneFootball

Flamengo acquired the Gasômetro site, in Rio de Janeiro, to build a stadium

Flamengo has owned the Gasômetro site for a little over two years, but has never started construction of the stadium. As a result, the club’s former president, Eduardo Bandeira de Melo, said the current administration is right to slow the project down, because he is convinced there is not enough space there for the Rubro-Negro’s home.

– I really don’t like the Gasômetro solution. I don’t… In that regard, the board is right: a pause to reorganize. Because, first of all, I grew up with the Maracanã, right? –, Bandeira de Melo said, adding:

– But I understand that, because of all the political circumstances that always come up, it will end up being very difficult for Flamengo to own the Maracanã or to be a concessionaire with a long enough term to allow us to increase the capacity, right? –, he said and continued:

– If that is in fact impossible and Flamengo has to move toward having its own home, I don’t like the Gasômetro solution, first of all because I think that plot is far too small, right? A stadium big enough for Flamengo’s fan base simply won’t fit there, right? –, he pointed out.

How much did Flamengo pay for the land?

Rodolfo Landim’s administration acquired the Gasômetro site on July 31, 2024, for R$ 138,195,000.00. The club was the only bidder in the auction held by Rio de Janeiro City Hall.

The former Mengão president’s plan was to have the stadium ready in 2029. However, Luiz Eduardo Baptista’s administration said there are no conditions to carry out the original idea. So the stadium project is on standby.

What other arguments did Bandeira de Melo make?

– Not to mention that the area there is not the most suitable for several reasons. That land has to go through a decontamination process. For a long time, it was a coal gas plant there, dating back to the 19th century –, said the former Rubro-Negro president, who added:

– Later it was turned into a naphtha gas plant, right? Then, when natural gas from the Campos Basin started to come in, it stopped being a plant and became a natural gas distribution station instead –, he warned.

– The gas pipeline that is there has to be relocated; all of that is costly, right? City Hall may say, ‘no, leave that to me,’ but that is not what is written in the bidding document. What the bidding document says is that this is Flamengo’s responsibility –, he stressed.

– And that’s not all: the entire road system has to be adapted, right? That stadium would be there in the Port area, at the exit of Avenida Brasil and the Rio-Niterói Bridge, with enormous traffic. So you need to adapt the road system there, and then you’ll need to build an underpass, a pedestrian overpass, a viaduct… And according to the bidding document, Flamengo is the one that has to do that –, he concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.