MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's top electricity official said modernization of electricity facilities will require 25% of the $12 billion earmarked for new sports venues in Sochi selected to host the 2014 Winter Olympics Thursday.
In the past few years, electricity supplies in the mountainous region have been repeatedly disrupted by bad weather and rundown Soviet-era equipment. The worst accident occurred early this year when 400,000 homes were left without electricity due to a snow storm.
"Out of the $12 billion to be allocated for the construction of Olympic venues in Sochi, one quarter - $3 billion - will have to be spent on electricity facilities," said Anatoly Chubais, the chief executive of the Unified Energy System (UES).
"Now we have a clear idea of what facilities are required and we will definitely invest all the necessary funds before 2012," Chubais said.
The UES chief said Thursday steady electricity supplies would be guaranteed by using the latest developments of Russian and foreign companies, and added most of the work would be completed by 2011.
His company's news release said Thursday some of the technologies would be used in Russia for the first time, and would involve transmission lines capable of resisting low temperatures and heavy snowfall.
Chubais said isolated cables and the so called "smart" distribution networks operated by computers would be provided for the city along with special cables to be laid along the seabed and underground. Out of the $3 billion to be spent on the modernization effort, over $1 billion will be channeled for power generation and almost $2 billion for network facilities.
"It is almost a jeweler's work to build power plants in a resort area where we face strict environmental requirements," Chubais said.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose Sochi, originally an outsider in its bid, leaving out of the race Austria's Salzburg and South Korea's Pyeongchang. The Russian presentation was led personally by President Vladimir Putin who surprised the audience by speaking English for the first time in his public appearance and rounding up his address to the IOC in French.
But the Russian Black Sea resort will need substantial investment and a great deal of effort as it will have to build sports facilities from scratch.
