MOSCOW, December 05. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s head of the presidential administrative department Vladimir Kozhin calls as groundless the criticism about the billions spent on the major construction in Sochi.
“We are being criticises: the most expensive Olympic Games, where were the billions spent… Correct, there 15-20 percent of the money relate to the Olympic Games, and the rest - for the infrastructures, which never were there,” he said in an interview the Komsomolskaya Pravda published on Thursday.
Russia is getting not just a number of new sports facilities, but “a new city with modern infrastructures,” he said.
“Until recently, honestly speaking, it was impossible to swim in the Black Sea, as Sochi, sorry, did not have modern sewerage system. None at all! Everything went right into the sea! To leave alone the roads. No walking, no driving. Now that I come to Krasnaya Polyana /where most skiing facilities are/ - there are some passages of the old road, and I think with horror - how could we use it? A sheer rock here, and a cliff there,” Kozhin said. The city also had major problems with the energy, too, he added.
“Now, some problems still remain probably. But everyone who comes to visit the city, I believe, will see what work has been done, as in the comfort, the accessibility of the sports facilities I cannot remember Olympic Games of the kind,” he said.
Now in Sochi “the level of hotels, the service are all different,” he continued. “We are witnessing a moral and psychological change in the minds of our people that Turkey and Egypt are fine, but home is best,” he said.
Kozhin is sure the accommodation prices in Sochi will decline. “It is a market, it will change the situation. It would be the best, if our beloved Aeroflot /Russia’s biggest aviation carrier/ changed its pricing policy.