Against ecologists' protests, Sochi commissions first object of 2014 Olympics

An alpine trail at the ski resort "Roza Khutor", which will host in February 2011 the European Cup in alpine skiing, has been commissioned in Sochi. Ecologists, in their turn, have blocked today the building works at one of the Olympic objects, stating that rare flora species are liquidated during the construction.

As announced today by Dmitri Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister, the builders at the ski resort "Roza Khutor" have commissioned nine kilometres of Olympic trails and put the necessary infrastructure for the competitions into operation.

In February 2011, "Roza Khutor" will take the European Cup in alpine skiing; and in 2014 the place will hold snowboarding and alpine skiing events within the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, the ITAR-TASS reports.

Sergey Bachin, Director of the "Roza Khutor" Company, has noted that the Olympic trails had received the FIS (International Skiing Federation) international certificates. The investor has already put more than 300 million US dollars into the construction of the ski centre.

The first test event at the "Roza Khutor" - the Russian Cup - will be held with participation of French experts, the "Interfax" reports.

Today in the morning in Sochi, several activists of the Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus have blocked the ongoing construction work in the natural monument "Pitsunda Pine Grove" (Cape Vidny). The construction is carried out by the Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Transyuzhstroy" - a contractor of the OJSC "RZhD" (Russian Railways); the name of the project is "One-Track Bypass on Sea Side of Cape Vidny".

The ecologists assert that the works go with violations of law; while the project was not presented to the state ecological expertise. A few old-growth Pitsunda pine trees and rare species of shrubs that grows only in this area are under the threat of destruction.

The place of ecologists' protest was visited by the commission of representatives of the OJSC "RZhD" and "Rosprirodnadzor" headed by Alexander Krokhmal, the deputy chairman of the territorial branch of "Rosprirodnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency for Nature Supervision), who supported the demands of the activists of the Ecological Watch to stop the construction works until elimination of all legal violations.

As reported by the Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus, the activists, in their turn, continued to stand in the way of construction machinery, preventing to resume the works.