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The stadium, which hosted the 2014 World Cup final and the
opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic Games, was
plunged into darkness on Thursday after Light, the Rio de
Janeiro electricity company, cut power due to unpaid bills.
Odebrecht, which holds a 95 per cent stake in the consortium
that owns the rights to run the arena, owes Light 1.3 million
reais ($412,000) and has agreed to pay most of that debt.
The consortium "is going to pay a debt of 1 million reais with
Light," Odebrecht said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Light said the power would go back on once
the payment was made and that negotiations with Odebrecht were
ongoing about when that would happen and about the remaining
300,000 reais.
The total unpaid bill is 3 million reais with Olympic organisers
owing 1.7 million reais. Light said Rio had agreed to pay their
part and were negotiating details.
The stadium has fallen into disrepair over the last month and
parts of the ground were looted, thieves making off with
televisions, copper wire and a bust of Mario Filho, the Rio
journalist after whom the stadium was named.
Many seats are missing and large parts of the famous turf are
either dried up or full of holes.
The stadium is one of the most famous in the world, where famous
players like Zico, Garrincha and Romario scored many of their
greatest goals.
It hosted the final of the 2014 World Cup when Germany beat
Argentina and was host to the final match of the 1950 tournament
when Uruguay defeated Brazil 2-1 to lift the trophy.
It has not held a match since Dec. 28 when Zico played his
annual charity match there. (Writing by Andrew Downie, editing
by Ed Osmond)
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