Munich 2018 not concerned by land owner threats (Roundup)

Dec 14, 2010, 15:09 GMT

Berlin - Sports officials and local politicians said on Tuesday they see no danger for Munich's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics 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. Venues are virtually uneffected by the refusal of some land owners,' bid committee supervisory board chief Michael Vesper told the German Press Agency dpa.

Bavarian prime minister Horst Seehofer said after a cabinet meeting that 'the Olympic bid book will be handed over' to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as planned by January 11.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is due to stage the majority of ski events and host an athletes' village 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.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung paper reported on Tuesday that 59 farmers and land owners have declined to make their land available if Munich lands the Games.

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

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

But Seehofer, who was due to sign the government guarantees for the bid book on Wednesday in Berlin together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, dismissed the ultimatum and said the government would not put up with being pressurised.

Siegfried Schneider, Minister at the Bavarian State Chancery, said 'the remaining open questions about land will be cleared up' and that 'alternative solutions' are available if there is no agreement.

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