ATHENS, Nov 8: Olympic inspectors monitoring preparations for the Athens 2004 Games said Friday they were happy with the work under way but urged Greek organisers to keep up the increased pace of their troubled build-up.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief inspector Denis Oswald said, while problems still remained over venue construction and infrastructure, Games organisers had made significant progress in meeting tight deadlines.

Two years ago, the IOC issued Athens a serious warning about their delayed preparations for the Olympics.

“I am very pleased to report that Athens is really taking Olympic shape. Significant progress has been achieved in several areas and our commission has been favourably impressed by what we have seen,” Oswald told a news conference at the end of a two-day visit.

He said the Athens Olympics Committee organisers (ATHOC) had pushed forward crucial projects including road infrastructure where he said “there was quite decisive progress made”.

Other areas the IOC praised were public transportation, with work for the Athens tram and a suburban railroad already underway, and some venue construction.

But Oswald said time was still a rare commodity for organisers.

“The schedule will be tight until the end. It is crucial that ATHOC and the government keep the pace they have at the moment,” he said. “We are much more confident than some time ago about the success in Athens.”

Following several years of delays, in-fighting and bureaucracy after winning the bid to host the Games in 1997, organisers have in the past two years made up some lost time and regained the confidence of the IOC.

Oswald said remaining problems included a much-publicised revamping of the main Athens Olympic stadium by acclaimed Spanish Architect Santiago Calatrava and the venues of soccer matches.

Calatrava’s plans to cover the stadium with an impressive steel dome have been put on hold until bureaucratic delays were solved.

He said another thorny issue was the venue of the football qualifying round to be held in Athens. Several venues, initially earmarked for the tournament, have been ruled out because of too little capacity or the poor state of grounds and facilities.

Oswald said it was up to the world governing body FIFA, which will visit Athens in December, to decide which stadium would be best for the matches.

He said the construction of an indoor basketball stadium, seating 15,000, at the site of the capital’s former Hellenikon airport had also fallen behind.

“There are still a number of critical areas...specifically at Hellenikon basketball hall,” he said.

This project, already months behind schedule, has been delayed following a legal battle between two construction firms vying for the project. A decision on the contractor would be made by a Greek court next week.

ATHOC chief Gianna Angelopoulos said organisers had finally met the IOC’s accommodation requirements of 20,000 luxury rooms for the extended Olympic family, including IOC members and VIPs.

She said ATHOC would launch a home rental scheme next week in an effort to find much-needed accommodation for hundreds of thousands of visitors expected in Athens during the Games.—Reuters