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2014 Games costs balloon to double original estimate

Costs for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi have doubled from the amount planned, the government's top auditor said on Tuesday.

Russia was awarded the Games last year, with an ambitious plan to build almost all the needed facilities from scratch at the Black Sea resort, including an elaborate light-rail system leading from the seaside ice-sport venues to the snow sports locations in the Caucasus Mountains 50km to the east.

The construction projects are part of a 314 billion ruble (US$12.8 billion) "federal target program" to develop Sochi as a world-class resort area. The government has said it will contribute 185 billion rubles, with the rest coming from private investors.

But Sergei Stepashin, chairman of the Russian Audit Chamber, told a committee at the upper house of parliament that "the figures that were stated earlier have doubled," the news agency ITAR-Tass reported.

"Now it is extremely important to present a report within two months regarding the costs for preparations for the Games," he was quoted as saying.

The Sochi organizing committee disputed that assessment, asserting that Stepashin was citing figures for the entire Krasnodar region, where Sochi is located.

"Whilst these projects will enhance the Games-time experience, they are not Olympic related costs as they are long term projects for the regeneration of the region into a year round resort destination," the committee said in a statement.

Sochi was one of the Soviet Union's most popular vacation spots, but development has not kept pace with Russia's general post-Soviet economic boom.

Its lack of facilities and substandard infrastructure was seen as one of the bid's potential weak points, but strong government support proved persuasive to International Olympic Committee members.
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