Construction of hippodromes in Chechnya raises payback issues of Kadyrov's projects

The second hippodrome in Chechnya has been opened in Shali; the third one is being built in Grozny; it will be the largest in Northern Caucasus. Horse races in Chechnya are held very rarely, local residents said. To make a hippodrome profitable, it must have hundreds of races per year and take toto bets, said the branch workers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

Last week saw the solemn opening ceremony in Shali of the second hippodrome in Chechnya; it covers the area of 23 hectares and is designed for 516 spectators.

Besides, Grozny is now building the third hippodrome, which will be the largest in Northern Caucasus – it is assumed that it will cover 60 hectares.

Residents of the Shali District reveal no enthusiasm for the opening of the hippodrome – many of them see no need for such facilities.

"We are not such a large republic to build hippodromes in almost every city. Well, they organize races here two or three times a year; and the rest of the time the facility will be idling," Khavazhi, a local resident, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Just a waste of funds, even if they are off-budget ones. It would be better to think about jobs for people," Markha, a resident of Shali, agrees.

A hippodrome cannot pay off without regular horse races and taking bets, Alyona Akimova, the head of the production department of the Pyatigorsk hippodrome, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The maintenance of a hippodrome is very expensive and with such a small number of races it will fail to reach self-sufficiency, she has stressed.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 23, 2019 at 11:11 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.