The Kaliningrad Region authorities are through with their hurried preparations for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit.
The Kaliningrad authorities are done with their hasty preparations for Prime Minister Putin's visit. When he arrives in the city he will see no garbage or old leaves on the streets – they were removed by hundreds of street sweepers and volunteers on a city clean-up day.
Everyone in the Kaliningrad area was in a rush to prepare for the prime minister's visit: builders worked 24/7 to finish the construction of the first leg of a 27 km high-speed motorway, which will connect Khrabrovo Airport with the resort town of Zelenogradsk; Prime Minister Putin will inaugurate this section upon his arrival. The contractor was likely to miss the deadline and in mid-October even asked for another four weeks to finish the job, but Governor Boos insisted that the project be finished by the prime minister's visit. In the end, what was asserted to be a one-month job was completed in six days.
The highlight of the prime minister's visit will be the inauguration of a sports and arts complex in northern Kaliningrad. A total of 1.5 billion roubles were invested in the project, 850 million of which came from the federal budget, 250 million from the Kaliningrad administration, and 340 million from the contractor, Muradin Company. Deputy Minister of Healthcare of the Kaliningrad Region Irek Gimayev, who is in charge of sports, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that the centre will have two arenas seating 7,000 and 500 spectators. In the future, a full-fledged sports town with a swimming-pool, an ice arena, a football stadium with artificial turf and a multi-story parking garage will be built. In addition to sports contests, the complex will host cultural events, for example, a concert of the band DDT in November and an Alla Pugachyova concert in February.
A few major design setbacks were revealed during construction, for example, the ventilation and air conditioning systems were simply missing. Extra funds were allocated to make up for the shortfall, and sections of some facilities had to be pulled down. Members of a public expert panel, who visited the construction site in late August, were shocked by the poor quality of the buildings. One of them, member of the board Alexander Belyanov, said that the pylons, on which the roof rested, had severe defects. To build the "forgotten" ventilation system into the facilities, some reinforced load bearing structures were cut through.
In addition, only 40% of the complex's heating system was ready in September. The head of the regional architecture and construction agency, Sergei Karpovich, confirmed that the project had several shortcomings. However, he said that the building will be commissioned, although with some reservations. It will not be accessed publicly until all the systems are fixed.
In the next five days athletes from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Ukraine will be testing the facilities of the complex, and Prime Minister Putin will inaugurate the next round of the Russian Volleyball Cup today.
Alexander Ryabushev
