Construction Company Building Sochi's Olympic Venues Accused Of 'Cost Inflation'

The state-run construction company set up to build most of the facilities for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics "has been accused by Russian auditors of unjustified cost inflations" of up to $506M, according to R-SPORT. A chamber report circulated in the upper house of parliament Wednesday read, "An investigation has shown that corporation executives created the conditions for an unjustified increase in the estimated cost of the sports facilities checked by the Audit Chamber." The report claimed that executives from Olympstroi, which is building the entire coastal cluster of facilities, have "taken decisions that increased the cost of facilities without providing any grounds whatsoever for the new calculations, or they were presented without sufficient motivation" (R-SPORT, 3/6).

OFFICIAL LEAVES RUSSIA: In a separate piece, R-SPORT reported an official criticized by President Vladimir Putin for the mismanagement of Sochi Olympic facilities "has left Russia after prosecutors initiated a probe of his firm." Akhmed Bilalov "was publicly censured by Putin earlier this month over delays and cost overruns during his time in charge of the Sochi ski jump complex." Bilalov has left his Sochi 2014 role and "has since resigned as vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee" (R-SPORT, 3/6).