Ekaterinburg will be ready for EXPO-2020 ahead of schedule

26.11.2012 — News

SVERDLOVSK REGION

The Russian city of Ekaterinburg has some serious advantages over its competitors for the honor of hosting the global EXPO-2020 exhibition. Many of the facilities that will be needed by the participants and guests when they arrive for that six-month exhibition are scheduled to be completed in time for soccer's World Cup, which will be held in Russia in 2018. Ekaterinburg will be one of the cities hosting that sports championship.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich claimed at the 152nd session of the General Assembly of the Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE) in Paris that projects that require tens of millions of dollars in investment of will materialize thanks to public-private partnerships.

Ekaterinburg has a population of over a million residents, and the city's officials are prepared to allocate 500 hectares for the grounds of the EXPO, where the exhibition area, multistory buildings, parking lots, an amusement park, and Expo museums will be built. By 2018, the Ekaterinburg-Passazhirsky railway station will be renovated and the rail terminal modernized. There are plans to construct a second metro line in this major city, as well as introduce an automated system of traffic control. Ekaterinburg's Koltsovo airport today is currently one of Russia's leading aviation hubs, receiving the major types of aircraft from across the globe.

In a presentation, the regional government emphasized to RusBusinessNews that Ekaterinburg has successfully hosted meetings of the SCO and BRIC, plus the Russia - Germany summit was also held here. The competing cities primarily focus on the size of their investments. Thailand's Ayutthaya plans to spend $6 billion to turn the grounds of the EXPO into a "Venice of the East." In Turkey, the city of Izmir plans to build a global health-care center and invest up to $50 billion in infrastructure development. Dubai has secured the financial and moral support of Microsoft's founder Bill Gates. Brazil's Sao Paulo has its chances of winning the bid too. One of these five candidates will be chosen as the winning city in November 2013.