Sochi residents protest against alternate Kurortny Avenue

On June 20 residents of city-resort Sochi held a number of rallies and pickets in defence of municipal streets against construction of federal highways; most of them are planned right under tenants' windows and assume cutting away a lot of greenery.

According to Statement of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 991, over 20 federal-value highways are planned to be built in city-resort Sochi. Construction of most of them encroaches on the right of many townspeople to favourable environment.

In particular, the routing of the alternate Kurortny Avenue goes directly under windows of apartment houses in violation of the existing SNiPs (Construction Norms and Rules). Despite numerous protests of Sochi scientists and public figures, a group of officials and deputies is lobbying the most adverse for the city, in the opinion of its residents, variants of these roads, which assume cutting down of pretty plenty of green plantings.

On the day of protest actions Sochi residents held a march along the municipal quay and Tchaikovsky Street, where they plan to fell trees without due permits for building the alternate avenue.

On that day, rallies of tenants were held in many Sochi yards, where decisions were made to daily picket the Mayoralty, the City Assembly and the "Rosavtodor" construction site in Tchaikovsky Street, which is municipal.

The first picket was held by mobile citizens' groups, who at the same time raised subscriptions against destruction of the green zone in Tchaikovsky Street. In total, they gathered over 200 subscriptions.

Besides, people stood in individual pickets and attracted passers-by and passing cars with their posters and slogans.

Another reason of Sochi residents' discontent is in illegal, in their opinion, alienation of their land plots for construction.

According to Anatoly Pakhomov, Mayor of Sochi, he "is unaware of this project, as he is not an expert in road construction."

Anatoly Lutsyk, Chairman of the State Assembly of Sochi, said that "it`s a federal project and a statement of the government of the Russian Federation, which is mandatory for all."

However, in the opinion of Olga Kozinskaya, chair of the Public Institution "Civil Construction Board of the City-Resort of Sochi", "routing a federal highway on piles along a municipal road in the area of inhabited districts and a general-use green zone is inadmissible."

Yuri Lvov, a merited Sochi architect, is of the same opinion.

An expert on roads and a teacher of a higher school Alexei Popov believes that this routing of the alternate avenue will not solve the problem of traffic jams but will only aggravate it.

Vladimir Ostapuk, Chairman of the Public Ecological Board, also believes that the project is unacceptable, as it lacks a social component.