By Svetlana Andreeva

Russia will invest a total of 20 billion dollars in Olympic facilities to be built in Sochi in the next five years for the 2014 Winter Games. The organizers are sure the amount will be raised despite the world economic crisis, since the Olympic project is more than necessary. Whether they have a reason to say so will become clear after the MIPIM-2009 real estate show in Cannes, where Sochi is presenting 11 projects.

Foreign investors are offered to take part in building Olympic facilities that cost a bit less than 4 billion dollars. The range of proposals is fairly wide – from a sports facility called “Mountain Carrousel” and a skating arena to a set of hotels. Alexandra Basyrova is an advisor to Krasnodar governor.

Sochi is presenting its premier Olympic investment projects in Cannes, she said. They cover ice palaces, as well as all infrastructure facilities to be built in Imereti Valley and all ski slopes currently under construction in Krasnaya Poliana. Investor interest in Sochi is dozens of times higher than in other projects, because Sochi projects are backed by state guarantees and enormous investment from the state.

Russia is ready for cooperation with western investors, and the investor companies are entitled to long-running loans that will stretch seven to nine years. In addition, investors will get tax privileges and long-term land lease contracts with favorable conditions.

14 Olympic facilities are to be built in Sochi by 2014, but investors have been found for 6 so far: a biathlon complex, a ski facility, a ski jump, a ski center, a snowboard park and a freestyle center. Hopefully, the list will expand after the Cannes show.