Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with members of the IOC Coordination Commission during its second inspection of Sochi
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues. I am very glad to see you here in Sochi again.
This is the sixth time IOC experts are visiting Sochi. You have not merely inspected construction sites during your previous visits but established personal contacts and made professional recommendations.
The high level of mutual confidence and understanding achieved during those meetings is of great help to us in implementing the Olympic project. Thank you for your openness and constructive approach, and for active participation in preparations for the 2014 Olympics.
Today, we will summarise the work done and discuss future assignments. I want to say from the start that the available managerial structure is very precise, and the Olympic project is being funded regularly. We have said many times that necessary allocations will come fully and in time, problems or no problems. And this is what has been happening.
The overall estimated cost of the Olympic infrastructure is roughly 200 billion roubles. It includes roads connecting Olympic facilities, water and power supplies, sewage, etc. Federal allocations make slightly more than half of this amount, and investments the rest.
The Government has created attractive conditions for potential private investors in the Olympic project-for instance, low-interest loans from Vnesheconombank, one of the leading Russian state banks. The work will go on-in particular, to reduce administrative obstacles to investment.
The work has been meeting all deadlines. We find it one of the priority aspects of the Olympic project. More than that, many works are ahead of schedule. The cable road of the Mountain Merry-Go-Round complex, and several facilities of the Gazprom mountain skiing centre have been opened already.
They are not among Olympic facilities proper but add to the winter sport infrastructure. As for the Loo hotel complex, which has opened already, it is on the Olympic list. The Poselkovaya power substation, one of the crucial Olympic energy projects, is ready, just as the first stage of the railway freight yard and the first stage of the loop road. The information system of project management is working already to allow real-time construction management and prompt risk assessment.
We intend to commission railway terminals and freight yards of the Imereti Lowland, the Dzhubga-Sochi highway, and the Sochi cargo seaport within the year.
Work on the main facilities in the mountain and coastal clusters has started, just as the construction of four out of the six Olympic Park palaces. All told, five ice palaces will go up in the Imereti Lowland. I think it is too much for the Black Sea coast. There is an idea to make three of them mobile, and take them to other parts of Russia after the 2014 Sochi Olympics to develop winter sports and popularise the Olympic movement.
They will certainly meet IOC requirements and construction deadlines.
I would like to discuss it all with representatives of the International Olympic Committee today.
Important decisions on transport infrastructure have also made it possible to start Olympic construction on a mass scale. Sochi logistics have been blueprinted for the construction period, and the schedule of cluster material and technical supplies approved.
The Olympic Transport Directorate has been established for effective work in this field. Land allotment is going on actively. We have been settling disputes with the owners of houses and land plots in the construction area. The Olympic project directorate and the regional and municipal administrations are active in this respect.
A net graph of the works is ready, according to which none of the people who have had to move will need temporary accommodations. Construction of the new Nekrasovskoye settlement has started.
I repeat again: Temporary accommodations should be ruled out. We must provide permanent housing. We will not allow anyone to take advantage of the situation but the population's lawful demands will be met. We expect to settle the basic problems of land allotment this year.
Environmental issues have a unique place in Olympic preparations. 30 projects have been submitted for environmental expertise so far. Fourteen have been approved, two turned down, and another 14 are under consideration.
Construction agreements set additional environmental recommendations, the so called Green Standards, with stringent requirements toward facilities under construction and construction process itself. We intend to formalise the Sochi-2014 environmental framework strategy and several detailed environment protection plans this year.
Anti-doping measures are of great importance. We are drafting legal amendments to streamline doping control and improve the prevention of prohibited drugs and techniques. The RUSADA independent national anti-doping organisation, established last year, is responsible for doping control in Russia. National anti-doping regulations and educational programmes have been elaborated.
Colleagues,
I would like to welcome you in Sochi once again. I hope today's meeting will allow us to discuss informally all problems I have outlined. If you think I have omitted other important issues, I will be glad to discuss them too. We will talk about anything you find necessary to discuss today. Thank you. I wish you a pleasant evening.
