Russia will complete construction work for the 2014 Winter Olympics on schedule despite the economic crisis and will strive to minimise costs, a senior government official said in an interview on Tuesday.
Russia is expected to run budget deficits in the next three years and plans to borrow $59 billion abroad.
Its financial woes raised questions internationally about the country's ability to host the Games in Sochi. The opposition has suggested holding the Games in several cities to reduce construction costs and save face.
"We have no doubts we will be able to hold the Olympic Games the way we promised," Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told Reuters. "We have calculated everything, a timetable for each element is laid out on a monthly basis."
Kozak said Russia plans to spend just over 102 billion roubles ($3.32 billion) on building Olympic sites and about 500 billion roubles on infrastructure projects. "This is not a sign that we are running out of money. We will optimise costs regardless of the state of our finances. This is not only dictated by the crisis. Even if oil traded at $200 a barrel we would be doing it anyway."
Russia is the world's second biggest oil exporter.
Critics say that with just over four years to the Games, construction work on the bulk of the planned 230 construction sites in Sochi has not started, property disputes are not solved and most environmental concerns have not been addressed.
"We have no concerns today. Modern construction technologies allow even the most complicated structures to be built in record periods of time," said Kozak.
CONSTRUCTION RUSH
The 2014 Games are a pet project of Putin, now Russia's prime minister. In 2007, Putin travelled to a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Guatemala to oversee Russia's victory over Austrian and South Korean rivals.
Putin appointed Kozak, regarded as one of his most trusted allies, to oversee the Olympic preparations.
Kozak said Russia has started work at 36 Olympic sites and aims to launch 40 to 50 building projects every year in order not to "create hell for local residents".
"Some observers have a vision that cranes should have moved in the next day after Guatemala. It should not be the case. We are actually forced to contain the builders' urge to start working," Kozak said.
Kozak defended the rail and motorway project linking the Black Sea shore and Olympic sites in the mountains and said environmental concerns expressed by various lobby groups were "politicised".
"Of course we are trying to inflict minimal damage on nature but any infrastructure development in any corner of the world implies some suppression of environmental rules," said Kozak.
Kozak said the priority for the government team working on Olympic preparations was to address the infrastructure needs of Sochi, a Soviet-era resort which has undergone little renovation in recent years.
"The city does not have a sewage purification works, this is madness. We call it a resort but waste water is dumped in the sea.
"Utilities' infrastructure is in a prehistoric state. A lot of housing is in a catastrophic condition," he said.
