Intro:

Rio Mayor assesses progress made on Olympic projects so far.

Script:

With 595 days to go, Rio de Janeiro Mayor, Eduardo Paes, called a news conference this Friday to present a balance of the Municipal Olympic Projects under construction.

The event was held at the Olympic Park, which will host 16 of the 41 Olympic disciplines.

The balance focussed heavily on at the Olympic Golf Course and Velodrome which have come under scrutiny.

A Rio de Janeiro judge denied a request from prosecutors to halt the golf course's construction because of environmental concerns.

Prosecutors have argued the environment must be the primary concern - not the Olympics or the real estate development.

However the mayor had is on take on matters....

SOUNDBITE (Portugese) Eduardo Paes, Rio de Janeiro Mayor

"This is the great aggression to nature that we are doing! We can notice the strong aggression to nature! It's a scaring environmental degradation. A place used to be just cement. You can see it will have its natural original vegetation on site. A site that used to be just cement!"

He also responded sharply when questioned about delays of the Valedrome.

SOUNDBITE (Portugese) Eduardo Paes, Rio de Janeiro Mayor

"Three weeks of delay in a work of such size means nothing. If someone is refurbishing its home and it only has a three-week delay, he or she deserve an award for that."

The Velodrome is expected to be delivered by end of 2015.