MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Vasily Zubkov) - Three cities are competing to host the 2014 Winter Olympics-Russia's Sochi, PyeongChang of South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria.
Though the International Olympic Committee will meet in Guatemala on July 4 for a final decision, Russia has already launched ambitious construction of sport and transport facilities in this subtropical resort.
An impressive $12.6 billion has been earmarked for Olympic preparations in Sochi, to be allocated over a period of eight years. The federal budget will provide $7.7 billion of that. The rest is up to the regional budget and private investors. The state will fund highway and sport facilities construction, and energy supply and infrastructural modernization. Russian budget investment is comparable to what other countries have invested in preparations for the Olympic Games. The U.K., for example, intends to spend roughly $18 billion on the 2012 Olympics, and Canada $2.5 billion on the 2010 Games in Vancouver. The Russian government is so generous because Sochi is bidding to host Olympics for a third time, and its chances are better than ever.
Sizable private investment is expected in regional development and Olympic project financing-in particular, to build hotels, recreation centers and mountain ski tracks, and generally improve the seaside and Olympic sites. Top Russian companies have won tenders to lead private investment.
Gazprom intends to finance biathlon and mountain ski tracks, the biggest of which will be 3.4 kilometers long, plus a major hotel complex. The Interros holding will build a downhill track and one for slalom, plus the Rosa Khutor mountain ski resort, whose construction costs are estimated at $250 million. Karusel, another mountain ski resort, will cost a similar amount, and another $150 million will go to build a village near it. But then, there is much else to do, apart from building sports facilities, to make the city and its environs meet Olympic standards.
Sochi, in the Caucasus foothills, has no reliable electric supply, so the state instructed RAO UES of Russia to build several hydropower plants and three major substations in the vicinity, and lay two transmission lines to the Krasnaya Polyana tourist center.
A greater part of Olympic allocations will go to regional transportation projects. The RusAl (Russian Aluminum) industrial giant, for example, launched a $2 billion investment project to build a modern recreation center in Sochi and renovate the city airport. The latter project employs a thousand people, working in three shifts. The landing strip has been lengthened from 2,900 meters to 3,400 to cater for all types of liners. Russian Railways will build railroad facilities, including a monorail from Krasnaya Polyana to Olympic mountain ski and bobsled tracks. Beijing is laying a similar, if a bit longer, rail to connect its international airport with the city center.
All those are only a part of Olympic projects-the majority are still at the blueprint stage now, seven years before the Games. Investors will attract Russian and foreign subcontractors who offer the best terms. Many companies from Europe and Asia are interested in the huge venture. Major Chinese builders and financiers are also expected to join.
"All told, we hope to get more than a hundred commercial projects from Olympic investors-hotels, a golf club, a snowboarding park, tobogganing and bobsleigh tracks, arenas, and ski resorts. We also need investment in certain municipal transport infrastructural projects," said German Gref, Russian economic development and trade minister.
"We are looking forward to Russian participation, and we encourage and promote Russian investors-but overseas capital is just as welcome to help us build sport facilities of the highest world standards," says Alexander Tkachev, governor of the Krasnodar Territory, which Sochi is part of.
Whether the Gem of the Black Sea, as Sochi is often called, will host the Olympics or not, it will get an enormous boost as a sports and tourist center. The Russian government recently adopted a federal target program to develop it as a mountain health resort. Design contests for its infrastructural projects have been conducted. Investment in the region will drop only by a quarter if another Olympic bidder wins.
The money will not be wasted, no matter whether Russia is a Winter Olympic venue or not, President Vladimir Putin said. Russian athletes, Sochi residents and tourists will have new facilities for training and recreation, and the city will benefit from new roads, reliable electric supplies and many tourist and cultural projects, including hotels and restaurants.
Wand Wei, executive vice president of the Beijing organizing committee for the 2008 Olympics, shares Putin's opinion. Such large-scale events as the Olympic Games always come as a powerful economic impetus to the host country to boost its international prestige and promote friendship and understanding between nations. Olympics are never organized at a loss, especially if they have support from the population and sufficient state and private financing, he said.
Nearly 80% of Russians support the Sochi bid, and half of them are confident that the Russian city will win.
Sochi is Russia's city to have the status of a resort. Why is it in such a hurry to start Olympic construction, long before an IOC decision? The answer lies in the city's unique location, where snow-topped mountains rise contrast with the warm seashore to make it sightseer's paradise-which it has been since the early 20th century. Sochi stretches several tens of miles along the coast, and offers affordable holidays to thousands. In the future, its inimitable climate and beauty will provide an excellent training environment for Russian and foreign athletes. The city will also be able to host major international athletic events.
Another advantage that IOC experts are sure to appreciate is the compact placement of Olympic facilities, which is so convenient for athletes' and tourists' safety before and during the Games. The central village will be in the city, close to the sea, while Krasnaya Polyana, a highland spot not far from the shore, will concentrate mountain ski and bobsled tracks, skating centers and training facilities.
It takes an hour to get by car from one principal Olympic project to another. Authorities are going to provide speedy transportation for athletes and fans. Transport is a problem all bidders share. Sochi is looking even now for investors and contractors to design and build an alternative highway from the city to Krasnaya Polyana, site of a second Olympic village. The seaside city is emulating Beijing, which has invested more than $40 billion in the 2008 Summer Olympics. A greater part of the money will go to meet city transport challenges, and build new highways and subway lines.
Sochi is eager to emulate Chinese organization patterns and Olympic preparation know-how, which concerns contracting overseas companies, as well as security, construction, and high-tech transport and communications.
The environment presents the most difficult problems of all, and Russia will have to cope with them long before the 2014 Olympics. Environmental watchdog organizations are concerned that a huge inflow of fans and tourists could destroy the balance in the unique location, frail as it is even now.
Environment protection allocations presently make $400 million, a third of the sum earmarked for the Sochi national park, said German Gref. As he met with IOC Evaluation Commission members, the minister talked about what Russia intended to do to protect its wildlife during Olympic construction.
For example, the Imereti Valley, where several projects will be built, will have a lake and forest reserve with a bird park. The number of trees to be cut down must not exceed the average planned for two years. In fact, Olympic projects will take up only 1% of the national park area, said Yury Trutnev, natural resources minister.
Russian authorities and all major environmental organizations, including Greenpeace and WWF, are represented on the newly established Sochi 2014 Ecological Council. Only recently those organizations were strongly opposed to the idea of the Sochi Olympics. The council determined to have compulsory state environmental inspection on each of the 11 blueprinted projects.
Sochi has a major benefit-its Olympic projects are only on paper now. The existing sport facilities in Salzburg will become outdated in seven years, while Sochi is starting from scratch, which means that it can build the most modern stadiums, tracks and hotels. That was why it took "Gateway to the Future" for its official motto.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
