Sochi Olympic bid organizers defend venue construction

Sochi Olympic bid organizers defend venue construction{mosimage}Organizers of Russia’s bid to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games are aiming to ensure that construction of venues in and around Sochi would be environmentally sound.

The Sochi 2014 bid committee made the pledge earlier this week, two days after Greenpeace Russia filed a suit in the Supreme Court saying construction of sporting venues and tourist infrastructure could harm rare plants and animals in and around two protected parks.

Greenpeace also said some construction projects, which have attracted major investments by state-owned natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom and several tycoons, had failed to file environmental impact reviews, as required by law.

The bid committee said several projects had already received the necessary environmental review.

”We will ensure that all our plans meet and comply with the highest environmental standards of the Olympics and ecological communities in our bid to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games,” the committee said in a statement.

The committee pointed to a solid-waste processing facility being built in the Sochi area as an example of its commitment to the environment, along with air and water quality monitoring projects and erosion control measures being put into place.

But Mikhail Kreindlin, an activist with Greenpeace Russia, said the bobsled track and spectator stands are being built dangerously close to the Sochi National Park, and a proposed hydroelectric station and high-speed railway link could also affect the region’s fragile sub-alpine environment.

Earlier this year, the Russian Cabinet adopted a development program for Sochi calling for an investment of $12 billion shared 60-40 between the government and private sector — an ambitious undertaking made possible by a steady flow of oil dollars that have filled government coffers.

The resort town wedged between the Black Sea and soaring mountains is one of three finalists for the 2014 games. The International Olympic Committee will name the winning city in July 2007.

— The Associated Press