Seven years later, the Russian government began to build 378 facilities in Sochi, and the local government built 46.
Of these events, only 13 is directly used for the sports meeting. The chairman of the Coordination Committee of the Olympic Organizing Committee said that 85% of the infrastructure needed for the Sochi Winter Olympics needs to be built from scratch. For this small city, how to use these new facilities after the Olympic Games has also become a serious problem.
The problems encountered in the Sochi Winter Olympics do not stop there. From bad hotel conditions to "the most expensive Olympic Games", western journalists have all kinds of complaints about Sochi Winter Olympics.
The New York Times said: Western criticism is like an avalanche, but Russians wipe it off their clothes like snowflakes. Russian Deputy Chief Scientist Zach used "the winner should not be blamed" as a unified answer.
The most luxurious Olympic Games in history?
According to foreign media, there are 98 events in the Sochi Winter Olympics, with an average cost of 520 million.
In the western criticism of Sochi Winter Olympics, "spending as much as 5 1 100 million dollars" has become the most striking "crime". They said that in all the winter and summer Olympic Games, no one has ever spent so much, and the cost of almost every gold medal is as high as 520 million dollars.
According to reports, the Sochi Winter Olympics has 98 events, with an average cost of 520 million US dollars each, making it the most luxurious Olympic Games in history. The cost of this Winter Olympics has exceeded the sum of the investment in the past 2/kloc-0 Winter Olympics. The cost is also more than three times the budget of the 20th Men's Football World Cup, another sports event to be held in Brazil in June this year (the Brazilian government announced in June 20 13 that the planned 20 14 World Cup will cost16.5 billion US dollars, making it the largest World Cup in history).
A spokesman for the Russian government said that such a huge investment is largely used to improve infrastructure, but also to upgrade the urban foundation, such as renovating the airport railway station, building new roads, housing, hotels and conference centers, and other necessary public facilities. In addition, the cost of building the first Olympic stadium is as high as 600 million dollars. However, this stadium will not host any Winter Olympics, only the opening and closing ceremonies.
Safety is also an important expenditure item. According to CNN, in order to ensure the safe and orderly holding of the Winter Olympics, Russia has invested $3 billion in security and deployed more than 70,000 security personnel, which is equivalent to twice the police force of the London Olympic Games in 20 12. At the same time, warships are on standby at sea, drones patrol in the air, and anti-aircraft missiles and special forces are also deployed in relevant areas. What is even more unexpected is that part of the security expenditure was actually used to kill stray cats and dogs in Sochi, and a special company was responsible for capturing and handling them.
Other expenses also include hiring relevant staff. CNN revealed that this Winter Olympics is expected to attract 3 billion viewers. In order to better host the Winter Olympics, the Russian government will recruit 7,000 chefs and waiters to provide the best food logistics support for contestants from all over the world, and will also recruit 25,000 volunteers to participate in the Winter Olympics.
In addition, according to the Daily Telegraph, as many as 5,000 volunteers were transferred to hotels and journalists' apartments due to the contractor's failure to complete the staff dormitory on time. Media workers have to stay in private hotels, and the construction contractor will bear this extra huge cost.
However, in an interview with the media, Russian President Vladimir Putin firmly denied that the total investment of Sochi Winter Olympics exceeded 50 billion US dollars. He said that everyone makes mistakes in figures, and the total cost is 21400 million rubles. Zhukov, president of the Russian Olympic Committee, insisted that no large-scale corruption was found in the audit of the Winter Olympics. At the same time, he said that about $43 billion of the $50 billion investment was used for local infrastructure construction in Sochi, giving the city 20 new roads, new sewage treatment systems, new power stations and oil and gas pipelines, which should not be included in the Olympic costs.
How helpful is the Winter Olympics to the Russian economy?
Although investment has a certain stimulating effect, it is only a drop in the bucket.
The Wall Street Journal said that with the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, it was once thought that it would bring glory to Russia, but now some people question whether this $50 billion should be used for other investments. Russians also seem to be not buying this expensive Winter Olympics.
According to The Economist, according to a recent poll conducted by the independent Levada Center, nearly half of Russians believe that the reason for the huge expenditure is corruption. Of course, huge construction projects can benefit some Russians, but for others, the money is best spent on repairing dilapidated hospitals, roads and schools.
According to the report of the Development Center of the Russian Higher School of Economics, in the first quarter of last year, the Russian economy as a whole stagnated, but the economy in southern Russia grew at a high speed, with the growth rate of industrial production reaching 7%. The report believes that the preparations for the Sochi Winter Olympics have driven the rapid growth of industrial production in southern Russia.
A research report recently released by the European Organization for Reconstruction and Development shows that the Sochi Winter Olympics will accelerate the local economic development and consolidate its status as a tourist destination. However, Alexander zhukov, president of the Russian Olympic Organizing Committee, said earlier that it would take decades to recover the infrastructure investment for the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Allison Stewart of Said Business School, Oxford University, said that each Olympic Games often cost about 1.80% on average. But now the overrun rate of Sochi Winter Olympics is 500%. The New York Times said that the investment of more than 50 billion US dollars, which is 4.25 times of the original budget, has become a burden, and the economic growth of Russia, which relies on natural resources, has slowed down due to falling domestic commodity prices and dried up overseas investment. The Kremlin has indicated that the Russian government is prepared to cut spending.
The New York Times also believes that although the investment in the Winter Olympics has brought some stimulus, it is a drop in the bucket for the stagnant Russian economy. Although other big countries showed signs of economic recovery last year, Russia's economic growth rate dropped to 1.3%, the lowest level since 10 except the global economic crisis in 2009.
Not long ago, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development called on Russia to immediately reform its labor policy, productivity, government, legal bureaucracy and other factors that restrict the country's development, and wrote in the Russian economic investigation report: "With the stagnation of energy prices, labor and capital have been exhausted, and economic growth has begun to decline, lower than the pre-crisis level. Therefore, it is a crucial challenge to develop a stronger and more balanced economy and reduce the dependence of economic development on national resource exploitation rents. " In this case, the huge cost of hosting the Winter Olympics suddenly became a disadvantage.
Pierre Briant, a columnist of Breakingviews in Reuters, said that Russia, like other emerging economies, experienced violent shocks in the financial market in 1 month, and the Winter Olympics, which was originally devoted to demonstrating Russia's strength, also reminded the world that its economy was actually very fragile.
He also believes that Sochi has little effect on Russian economic recovery. The Winter Olympics attracts fewer spectators than the summer pageant, and the trickle-down effect brought by the huge investment in infrastructure is hardly felt outside the Caucasus mountains. Moody's, an international rating agency, also released a report saying that the Sochi Winter Olympics is unlikely to bring great impetus to the Russian economy.
The Wall Street Journal said that despite all kinds of headaches, the quality of this Winter Olympics is undeniable and there will still be unforgettable performances.