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E-mail Xinhua, March 1, 2024
The Olympic Village for Paris 2024 was completed "on time" as French President Emmanuel Macron was present at the inauguration on Thursday.
The 52-hectare village, located just north of center Paris and spanning across the municipalities of Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and Ile-Saint-Denis, will host some 14,500 athletes and their staff during the Olympics before welcoming 9,000 athletes and their staff for the Paralympics.
"It's a demonstration that we have honored our commitments," Macron told reporters after meeting workers, who he said should be "proud" of taking part in what he called "the adventure of a century."
After the Games, the village will be transformed into an eco-friendly neighborhood with 2,800 apartments and featuring two schools, a hotel, a public park, shops and offices, plus planted areas for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles.
Around one-third of the 2,800 apartments will be sold to private homeowners, while one-third is destined for public housing, and the rest for rentals, including students.
The constructors said that the village will benefit 6,000 residents after the Games.
"It is a masterpiece of what the French construction industry can do," said Nicolas Ferrand, general director of Solideo, the company in charge of delivering the Olympics infrastructure.
By using low-carbon concrete, wood structures and renewable geothermal heating, organizers claim the village will create around half the carbon emissions over its lifetime compared with an equivalent built with standard construction techniques.
Other environmental innovations in the village include a mini water-processing plant to recycle water that will be used on more than 9,000 trees and shrubs that are set to be planted on the site.
Ferrand handed a symbolic key of the village to Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet, concluding a seven-year journey after Paris was awarded the Games.
Organizers are set to spend the next four months fitting out the village with more than 300,000 furniture and decoration items.
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