Putin appoints Olympic construction czar

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday put the head of Russia's oil pipeline operator in charge of an ambitious construction program for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday put the head of Russia's oil pipeline operator in charge of an ambitious construction program for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
    Putin appointed Semyon Vaynshtok, currently the chief executive of the state-controlled OAO Transneft, to lead the state corporation that will oversee construction projects in the Black Sea resort area.
    Vaynshhtok, who has headed Transneft for eight years and is set to step down this week, accepted the proposal made during a televised meeting with Putin.
    The new state Olympic corporation will manage at least $7.5 billion in federal funds earmarked for a sweeping construction program related to the games, which will be the biggest international event on Russian soil since the Moscow Olympics of 1980.
    The corporation is separate from the yet to be formed Olympic organizing committee.
    Sochi won the right to stage the Winter Games in Guatemala on July 5.
    In his term as chief executive of Transneft, Vaynshtok has overseen vast capital projects such as the Baltic Pipeline System, generally delivering them on time and on budget.

    — The Associated Press