Ministry's estimate on preparation for Sochi Olympiad is criticised by experts

According to the Russian Ministry of Regional Development (know as "Minregion") for the four preparatory years to the Olympiad in Sochi, including this year, 1,054 trillion roubles will be needed. In the opinion of experts, this sum is strongly overestimated.

Earlier, the budget of the federal targeted programme of building Olympic objects and developments of Sochi as a mountainous-climate resort for 2009-2012 was 169.1 billion roubles, while the total budget of the programme was 314 billion roubles.

However, the "Minregion" has evaluated the 2009-2012 governmental programme of Olympic construction as the sum of 1,054 trillion roubles, of which 699.3 billion roubles will come from the state budget.

Thus, as the "Vedomosti" writes, we have seen a more than six-fold growth of the total expenses on preparation for the Olympiad.

Now, according to the new estimate, only the construction of 14 main Olympic objects (stadiums and Olympic Park) will cost 195.3 billion roubles. This was reported by Vice-Premier Dmitri Kozak at the investment forum in Sochi.

Expert Igor Nikolaev believes that the estimate of "Minregion" is overestimated, and should a desire be present, it can be optimized. Evgeniy Gavrilenkov, chief economist of the "Troika Dialogue", sticks to the same viewpoint, as the edition writes.