Intl. architectural congress opens in Russia's southern resort of Sochi

An international architectural congress to discuss issues relating to designing and building sports facilities is opening in the Russian southern resort of Sochi on Tuesday, the region's chief architect said Tuesday.

Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympics, and large-scale preparations for the event, including massive construction of Olympic facilities, is underway in the city.

"The congress is an attempt to introduce state of the art technology and solutions to properly meet [the] 2014 [target]," Krasnodar Territory chief architect Yury Rysin said.

The congress will be attended by over 100 leading architects from Germany, Russia and Canada.

A total of 242 sports and infrastructural facilities are to be built by the time of the 2014 Games in Sochi. Seventy-two facilities are being built in the city now. The cost of building the facilities and infrastructure for the Games is estimated at more than $30 billion.

The Russian resort city on the Black Sea won the right to host the Olympics at an International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Guatemala in July 2007 after a close race with South Korea's Pyeongchang and Austria's Salzburg.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a noted sports fan and participant, was the driving force behind Russia's successful bid.

He took the unprecedented step of delivering a speech in English at the IOC meeting in Guatemala to select the host city, and was credited with swaying delegates to vote for the southern Russian resort.

Russia has never staged Winter Olympics and Moscow's hosting of the 1980 Summer Games was marred by a U.S.-led boycott involving more than 60 countries.

SOCHI, May 25 (RIA Novosti)