Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Thursday called for the accelerated exploitation of various Olympic venues and facilities in and around Athens.

During a meeting at his office with Alternate Culture Minister Fani Palli-Petralia and Olympic Real Estate Holdings SA President Christos Hatziemmanuil, the prime minister asked them to speed up the process of implementation of the draft bill regarding Olympic venues, the cultural ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also announced that it will issue an invitation to tender for Olympic facilities at Goudi (the venue for badminton during the Athens Olympics), the international broadcast center as well as coastal venues at the Agios Kosmas site.

However, Greece's slow pace of using the Olympic venues has triggered concerns and anxiety from the public over the future usage of the costly venues.

ATHOC President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki joined the chorus, saying that it would be a "great shame" if the dream Olympics remains only as an unforgettable memory.

How to use the Olympic facilities and reap the benefits of the Olympics are urgent tasks facing the Karamanlis government nearly one year after the successful games.

Source: Xinhua