Novaya Gazeta: "Road Project Threatens Natural Environment"
Environmentalists protest against the construction of the Adler-Krasnaya Polyana road.
The fact that the Adler-Krasnaya Polyana joint highway and railroad is not being built as a project, means that no assessment of its impact on the natural environment has been carried out and no final cost estimate has been made. The builders are changing the course of the Mzymta River. This entails the destruction of protected forests listed in the Red Data Book of Russia (a publication detailing rare and endangered species) and the shallowing of the river, which is Sochi's main source of water. The local campaign group, North Caucasus Ecological Watch, has written letters of complaint to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika.
The Adler-Krasnaya Polyana road is the most costly Olympic project estimated at about 242-266 billion roubles. In implementing the project, technical access roads made of gravel are being built along the course of the Mzymta River. These roads are noticeably narrowing the river channel, while the forests along the roads are being cut down.
In June, the builders destroyed several hectares of forest consisting mostly of wingnut trees, a protected species also listed in the Red Data Book. Currently construction of one of the technical access roads has been suspended as its planned route takes it through a dense boxwood forest. Kolkhida boxwood is also listed in Russia's Red Data Book and its felling is strictly banned. No one knows what the next step should be.
The first alarm signal came last spring when builders started illegally removing gravel from the Mzymta River channel. As a result, the water level in the Adler water intake system fell by 30%. Ecologists say any further change in the natural course of the river may cause floods, overflows and a fall in water supply. According to them, the only way out is to call a halt to the road project in its present form. Experts say there is no need to build a railroad, and the highway could be laid along the old mothballed Adler-Krasnaya Polyana route.
Ecological Watch sent their proposals to Mr Putin and Mr Chaika as early as June, but has not yet had any reply.
By Yevgeny Titov
