Russia faces challenges to have Sochi Games ready
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - After the celebrations, comes the headache: Russia has won the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics but now it faces the challenge of building the venues almost from scratch.
President Vladimir Putin says he is certain the city will be ready on time but Sochi is probably one of the most unlikely venues for a Winter Games.
A sub-tropical summer resort on the Black Sea, it has beaches, a palm tree-lined seafront and dozens of spa resorts, but only an embryonic winter sports set-up: its first ice rink was a temporary one erected in the town centre this year.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), meeting in Guatemala on Wednesday, handed the games to Sochi after eliminating Austria's Salzburg and South Korea's Pyeongchang.
Sochi does already have three small ski resorts clustered around the village of Krasnaya Polyana in the mountains above the town, about 100,000 hotel rooms -- designed to cater for summer holidaymakers -- and a gleaming new airport.
The bid organizers say money for the remaining work will not be a problem.
Russia's coffers are groaning with billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues. Putin has guaranteed $12 billion for Sochi and the surrounding region which he says will more than cover the cost of the Olympics Games.
Private businesses are footing some of the bill but they have deep pockets. State-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom and metals holding company Interros, which controls the world's top gold miner, are among the biggest investors.
"You have problems when there are no plans and no money but we know the money has been allotted," Leonid Tyagachyov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee, told reporters in Sochi earlier this year.
"We are not behind schedule. We still have seven years.
TOUGH TASK
That still leaves a "To Do" list that is intimidatingly long and a tight deadline to complete the work. The tasks include:
*Building the main Olympic Park, with two new ice arenas, an ice skating centre, a stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the main media centre and athlete accommodation. The site, on a plot of land on the Black Sea coast, has already been earmarked. At the moment, it is a collective farm with a corner used by local people for riding off-road motorbikes.
*Construction of the Alpine venues at Krasnaya Polyana. The plan is to build an Olympic village, hotel accommodation, another media centre, seven cable car railways and new ski lifts, as well as pistes and cross-country ski courses.
*Resolving Sochi's transport problems. A narrow strip wedged between the sea and the mountains, Sochi already suffers from serious congestion. Work has begun on a tunnel through the mountains to take traffic away from the centre of Sochi.
*Modernizing the creaking electricity supply. In February, Sochi suffered two blackouts when the ageing lines that deliver power to the region failed. The city had to draw on power from neighboring Georgia. A new 60-km cable network is being laid and new substations are planned.
"Within the next year I think we are going to see the first results (of Olympic construction work)," said Alexey Khraban, deputy head of the Olympic department in the Sochi mayor's office.
Russian officials say there is a positive side to building from scratch: when the athletes arrive for the start of the competition, the venues will be spanking new.
