Sochi residents ask Medvedev for better "Olympic resettlement"

Residents the Imereti Valley, whose houses are within the construction zone of Sochi Olympiad objects, have drafted an appeal to President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev with a complaint against unsatisfactory terms of resettlement. This was stated today at the press conference convoked by ecologists and public activists.

The press conference of 50 residents of the Imereti Valley was held at the background Dmitri Medvedev's request to regional authorities to accelerate the land allocation works for construction of Olympic objects and development of Sochi as a mountain-climatic resort; this was reported by the "Caucasian Knot" on March 23.

Felix Ivanenko, head of the ecology section of the Sochi branch of the Russian Geographic Society, said that the Imereti Lowland is a unique Russian seaside wetland. As a result of the past intensive agricultural development, a significant damage had been caused to its natural landscape, and several Red Book plant varieties have already disappeared.

Another Imereti problem is the second cargo port intended to pass through the freights for the Olympic construction. According to Vladimir Ostapuk, chair of the Sochi Ecological Board, when the site for the future port was cleared from the hothouses of now bankrupted state farm, many trees were cut out by dredges and bulldozers. Neither public activists nor ecologists ever saw a permit to cut the greenery; they also never knew the customer of the works.

Sochi residents strongly doubt that the second port is needed.

Mr Ivanenko has noted that the first port, already under construction, together with the railway, is quite capable to pass through all the Olympic freights.

According to the participants of the press conference, the port will cost suspiciously much to the federal budget - about 7 billion roubles, apart from serious ecological risks.

However, the greatest residents' headache is land alienation. Natalia Kalinovskaya, chair of the fellowship of local self-government "Psou", said that resettlement is many people's concern. However, on the regular basis the bureaucrats have meetings with the community of Old Ritualists only, for whom they plan building a demonstrative ethnic Nekrasovka village for 118 households.

However, even the Old Ritualists are now in unenviable situation.

"Here is a particular example. A family received evaluation of the 0.15 hectare land plot worth 5 million roubles. One more million was added for the house. That is, 6 million roubles in total, while the smallest house in Nekrasovka costs 26 million," Ms Kalinovskaya said.