Watch: How much has Brazil spent on its Rio Olympic stadiums and facilities?

Watch: The Rio Olympics are scheduled to be held in various parts of Brazil from 5-21 August. But the preparations for the Olympics has been a disappointment with complaints being made about the Games Village.

Australia said on Sunday it would delay taking up residence in the Village, a development of 31 new buildings next to the Olympic Park which will house some 18,000 athletes and other team members during the Games starting 5 August.

“Problems include blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean,” the head of the Australian team, Kitty Chiller, said in a statement.

During a test involving taps and toilets being turned on in apartments on several floors, “water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was ‘shorting’ in the electrical wiring.” Chiller later told reporters that this was the worst Olympic Village she’d seen in five Games.

The head of Argentina’s Olympic committee, Gerardo Werthein, was quoted by Clarin daily saying that out of five floors reserved for the country “two are not habitable” and that his team had sought alternative lodging.

“The apartments are completed on the outside, but when we tested them we found problems with plumbing and electricity,” he said. “Rio said it will finish this, but we can’t take any risk.”

Italy has contracted its own team of workers to finish off the building work, Brazil has complained of leaks on the ground floor, while Mexico’s team has encountered ceiling leaks and blocked drains, Globo news site reported.

Rio’s Olympic organizers said such teething problems plagued all Olympic Games and promised that “adjustments” would be made to resolve the problems.

The lack of preparedness in the Olympic Village has been an embarrassing blow for Brazil, which is struggling to show all will be well with the Olympiad.

The country is already facing low ticket sales, general public apathy amid a deep recession, fears over the Zika virus, and a spike in street crime as police complain of lack of resources.

(With inputs from agencies)