Munich 2018 officials not concerned by land owner threats

Dec 14, 2010, 11:31 GMT

Berlin - Munich bid officials for the 2018 Winter Olympics said on Tuesday they see no danger in a reported decision by a number of Garmisch-Partenkirchen residents not to make their land available for the Games.

'The candidacy is definitely not endangered,' supervisory board chief Michael Vesper told the German Press Agency dpa.

'Venues are virtually uneffected by the refusal of some land owners.'

Siegfried Schneider, Minister at the Bavarian State Chancery, also played down the issue.

'The remaining open questions about land will be cleared up and won't damage the bid,' Schneider said Tuesday following a cabinet meeting in Munich.

Vesper said that the Bavarian state government was in close contact with 59 farmers and land owners who, according to Tuesday's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, have declined to make their land available during the Games.

The report said the 59 have asked the Bavarian government to withdraw the bid by December 22. If not, they would inform the International Olympic Committee of their intentions.

Their lawyer was quoted as saying that all respective property was 'within the security fencing the IOC demands around its venues.'

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is due to stage the majority of ski events if Munich is elected host city by the IOC on July 6, 2011. The other bidders are Annecy of France and South Korea's Pyeongchang.

Read more about Germany

Read more about Olympics 2018