Rio metro will be ready for 'safe' Olympics - Sports Minister

By Anthony Boadle and Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA (Reuters) - All Olympics infrastructure in Rio de Janeiro will be ready before the Games start in August, including a much-delayed metro line, newly appointed Sports Minister Leonardo Picciani said in an interview on Wednesday. Picciani was appointed by interim President Michel Temer, who took over last week from President Dilma Rousseff after she was suspended to face trial for allegedly breaking budget rules. "All the obligatory infrastructure will be finished in time," Picciani said. Even facilities that are behind schedule will be ready, he said, such as the velodrome that is 86 percent finished and training facilities that are in the final phases of construction. A main concern for organizers has been completion of Line Four of the Rio metro system to transport visitors to the southern end of the city next to the Olympic Villages. The Rio state government, which is responsible for the work, has guaranteed that the line would be operating on time, the minister said. Buffeted by political crisis and a severe economic recession, Brazil is scrambling to prepare for the Games that start on August 5. Adding to the government's concerns, an outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus threatens to keep visitors and even some athletes from attending Rio2016. Picciani said Temer has made hosting a successful Olympics a top priority of his incoming government as he endeavors to restore confidence in Brazil's once-booming economy. "The president's keyword is 'confidence' and that will be demonstrated to the world by having the Games succeed," he said. Picciani dismissed concerns expressed by Defense Minister Raul Jungmann that the Rousseff government had overlooked security issues to the point that foreign intelligence agencies had stopped cooperating with Brazil. "I am very sure that Brazil has taken all the measures needed to effectively guarantee that the Games will be safe," he said. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Maria Carolina Mello; Editing by Chris Reese, Toni Reinhold)