Nemtsov: Olympic construction in Sochi needs declassifying

Boris Nemtsov, a candidate for Sochi Mayor, believes that the secrecy regime imposed by the federal centre on the topic of Olympiad-2014 construction should be lifted. Candidate Alexander Lebedev, in his turn, is sure that Sochi residents' problems should be addressed before the Olympic ones.

"Any censorship - both federal and local - shall be cancelled," said Mr Nemtsov during his on-line debates at "Gazeta.Ru" with entrepreneur Alexander Lebedev.

To eliminate corruption in Sochi, Nemtsov will insist on introduction of an oppositionist, in particular, Garry Kasparov, into the Board of Guardians of the "Olympstroj" Corporation. In his opinion, some of "adventurous and obviously corruption projects", like the alternate road "Adler-Krasnaya Polyana", should be cancelled, which will save a lot of money.

"60 percent of the funds allocated for the Olympiad are the road," Mr Lebedev has agreed.

Boris Nemtsov has noted that the construction run in the Imereti Lowland full of wet meadow soils was not accompanied by due prospecting works. In his opinion, the lowland will not withstand the number of Olympic objects they plan to build there. Therefore, as he believes, the Games need decentralization - opening and closing ceremonies should be held in Sochi, which remains the Olympic capital and the venue for mountain skis, bobsleigh, sledge and ski jumping.

Such events like skate racing, ice hockey, ski races and biathlon, according to Mr Nemtsov, should be transferred to other cities, basically to Moscow, most apt for the purpose. Decentralization of Olympiad-2014, he believes, will allow cutting expenses by several times.

Alexander Lebedev, in his turn, said that a serious auditor's supervision over Olympic expenses and revision of funds spent are a must. According to his story, "infrastructure and accessible housing for Sochi townspeople are primary things, while the Olympic objects are secondary." Mr Lebedev believes that the objects that would be idling after the Olympiad "are senseless and inadmissible squanders."

According to Nemtsov, resettling of residents of the Imereti Valley is possible only provided they get money for new houses at comprehensible market prices; otherwise, resettling will be a failure.

A special point in Nemtsov vs. Lebedev debates was the list of pretenders for the post of city mayor, which includes, for example, Elena Berkova, self-named as a porno star, and acting mayor Anatoly Pakhomov, thought to be the prot?g? of the territorial governor.

"The aim of the federal power is to discredit the Sochi election as such. They want to make a clown's show and to put the main oppositional candidate into this show," Boris Nemtsov has noted.