Rio de Janeiro, Dec 30 (DPA) Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), laid Wednesday the first stone in the construction of the Olympic Village for Rio de Janeiro 2016.

The Village, which Rogge defined as the heart of the Olympic experience, is to emerge in the Rio neighbourhood of Barra da Tijuca. It has been planned as a 48-building complex with a total of more than 2,800 three- and four-bedroom apartments to hold 17,700 athletes and team members.

Rogge stressed that he was happy and proud of the course of preparations towards the first Olympics ever to be held in South America.

Organisers boast that 46 per cent of the athletes in the Olympic Village will be just 10 minutes away from the venues where they will compete, while only 27 percent of them will have to travel more than 25 minutes to their venues.

The Village will also feature a mall, and a 700-metre Carioca Street, set to emulate Rio's famous beachfronts with their restaurants and cafes. Carioca is the word referring to a resident of Rio.

There will also be training facilities, a pool, a cinema, a spa and an Internet and video game centre.

Rogge appeared to be most excited with the project, which he said is the realization of an urban-planning dream for Brazil.

Rogge is set to attend New Year's celebrations Friday in Rio, when the city plans to unveil its Olympic logo during a huge party on the world-famous Copacabana beach expected to attract two million people.