Construction of the Olympic stadium in Baku to be completed by late February 2015, Chief Engineer of Regional Social Projects Provision Department of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Tural Ramazanov told Trend on Friday.
Ramazanov said that the works are continuing in accordance with the plan.
"The earthworks within the construction's framework began in November last year. At the moment, the works are completed by 90 percent and earthworks have been carried out in the volume of 6.5 million cubic meters. Currently reinforced concrete works are being conducted at the stadium," Ramazanov said.
According to him, the stadium will consist of four zones - the upper two zones with six-storey stands, the bottom two - with three storey stands.
Concrete works are continuing on the third floor of the first upper zone, on the second floor of another zone, on the first floor of the lower zone and on second floor of another zone.
The stadium is being built on foundation in the form of a whole slab, Ramazanov said.
"There are some 1720 boring piles under the foundation, and the construction of the foundation has been completed. In total, some 350,000 cubic meters of concrete are supposed to be used, 235,000 cubic meters of which have already been used. Some 52,500 tons of reinforcement will be used in the construction, 41,000 tons have already been used," SOCAR's representative said.
Ramazanov went on to add that the bottom, facade and roof of the stands will consist of iron construction, and some 19,000 tons of iron will be used in the construction.
"Nearly 300 technical equipments are working on the site - nine tower cranes, ten other type cranes and other equipments. The largest crane weighs 1,200 tons, there are no similar cranes in the region, and now it is being delivered from Germany," Ramazanov said.
Ramazanov noted that the Olympic stadium, which is being built by the order of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Youth and Sports, is a very fast project.
According to him, the current period is the peak time of works - now some 2,200 people are engaged in the construction and in the next two months, the number of workers will reach 2500-2600.
SOCAR's senior engineer said that it will be possible to enter the stadium through four gates, and 26 gates will serve as entrances to the stands.
Talking about car parking, Ramazanov said that according to Olympic standards, people mostly have to come to the stadium on foot or arrive by public transport, so a car park with 3500-4000 parking places is being built. He noted that the Olympic Stadium will seat 68,700 spectators.
Touching upon the issue of residents' dissatisfaction with the repair works on roads near the stadium, Ramazanov said that the construction works were started by SOCAR in November last year. Since that time, SOCAR has not taken down any house.
"This is the territory allocated for SOCAR to build the stadium. We are only engaged in the construction of the stadium. The construction works are carried out on roads to unite Hasan Aliyev avenue with Heydar Aliyev avenue, and according to the plan on reconstruction of road junction near Koroglu metro station and Sabunchu circle. These works are conducted by a completely different organization - Azeryolservis," Ramazanov said.
Ramazanov also expressed his relation to the news in the media outlets, which said that Tekfen company is owned by SOCAR and is the primary contractor.
"SOCAR is cooperating with Tekfen, but rumours that the company is owned by SOCAR, are unfounded. Tekfen company was put for sale three or four years ago. At first SOCAR was thinking about purchasing a stake in this company, but the deal was not realized. Tekfen is a company that openly serves in the Turkish stock exchange, and it is possible to find out who owns shares in this company on its website," SOCAR's representative said.
