Ecologists disclose another intrusion of Olympic builders into Sochi National Park

The Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus has revealed new violations of the nature-protecting legislation in the territory of the Sochi National Park at preparation to 2014 Winter Olympic Games. In this context, the organization is going to inform the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on these roughest violations, reports the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The statement of the Ecological Watch runs that the violations were revealed during the public inspection held on September 8 and 9 by activists of the organization. The Akhshtyr village and the surrounding territory of the Sochi National Park have become the venue of huge works to build the Adler-Krasnaya Polyana railway and motor road.

Besides, broadening and improvement of the existing road between villages Verkhne-Veseloye and Akhshtyr is underway, states the Ecological Watch. In Akhshtyr village a strong concrete road to the portal of future tunnel is being built.

The ecologists also state that wide-scale design and survey works with application of drilling machinery are underway in especially protected zones of the Sochi National Park. Access roads are laid down and cleared to drilling sites by powerful bulldozers.

According to ecologists, the constructed Olympic object is called "Combined (railroad and highway) road Adler-Lower Station of Mounting Ski Resort "Rosa Khutor". It is included into the Programme for Constructing Olympic Objects and Sochi Developments. The contractor of the project is the "Russian Railways" Open Joint-Stock Company.

Road construction to Krasnaya Polyana is one of the most dangerous Olympic projects for the city-resort Sochi, ecologists believe. It is clear from the information contained in Sochi General Plan that they will cross karstic massifs - Akhshtyr, Dzykhrin and Akhtsu. Most of them refer to reserved and especially protected zones of the Sochi National Park.

The territory of these zones of the National Park, where all kinds of economic activities are prohibited by the law, will be crossed by 11.5 km of roads.

During road construction, they plan to dig 6 km of tunnels, which can tell negatively on the hydrology of the karstic massifs and the water condition of Mzymta River, the ecologists are warning.

Also, the ecologists' statement runs, they plan to cut down large areas of virgin woods.

The area, where they plan to build roads, is notable for high risk of various detrimental natural processes - landslips, taluses, alluvial deposits and landfalls are widespread here, the Ecological Watch reports. The ecologists are sure that any economic intrusion into this area will make these natural processes much more active and tell extremely negatively on the condition of ecosystems and Mzymta River.

"It's hard to understand the arguments of the 'Russian Railways' OJSC, which is conducting works not only in violation of the law, but also without any approved project documentation," says the ecologists' statement. "Enormous budgetary funds have been invested into the project, which hasn't been approved by the state ecological expertise or undergone public hearings."