The members of Ecological Watch for the North Caucasus, the International Social-Ecological Union and Sochi’s branch of the Russian Geographic Society have sent a letter to Vladimir Putin where they point out that 11 future Olympic facilities “are unacceptable in terms of ecology and do not meet the requirements by the Russian law”. Ecologists are worried about negligence towards the status of the Caucasian Reserve, Sochi’s national park and Sochi’s wildlife preserve. The general plan of development implies construction of about ten automobile and railroad routes on those territories, also construction of two ports and reconstruction of the take-off and landing strip.
The authors of the appeal give special attention to the issue of the Imeretinskaya Bay. As the soil is swampy there, the planners intend some measures for engineering protection of the landscape: it is suggested that major part of the territory gets covered with a thick layer of sand and gravel mixture. Ecologists stress that such a decision would not guarantee safe construction, while the unique nature would be destroyed with this method.
The letter also says that placement of sports facilities in the Imeretinskaya Bay would lead to infringement on the Constitutional rights of the local dwellers and that “approval of the general plan of development in its current form would create the ground for increasing conflicts between the public and the local authorities and would lead to growth of social instability”. Ecologists ask for the Prime Minister’s assistance in making decision of sending the existing general plan for improvement.
Reminding, the general plan of development of Sochi was designed by St Petersburg’s Institute of Urbanistics and the “Giprogor” Institute. It defines the layout of the Sochi’s territory and makes for optimal placement of infrastructure objects. Presentation of the plan was made on 26 August at the public hearings. The ecologists then made their recommendations; however, the Russian law does not make those recommendations obligatory.
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