OCOG Report -- Sochi Angers Environmental NGO; London Olympic Park Gets Energy Center

Sochi 2014 Leaders Deny Blocking Public Views

Organizers of the Sochi Winter Olympics are disputing claims by an environmental group that residents living in the Black Sea resort affected by Olympic constructions are not getting a fair hearing.

The Environmental Watch on North Caucasus said that some environmental activists and residents from Imeretinskaya valley and Akhshtyr village were excluded from round table talks with the United Nations Environmental Committee officials and other Sochi 2014 stakeholders on Monday.

EWNC said members of the public and NGOs, including Greenpeace Russia and WWF, were not warned about a late change of time for the meeting that meant they could not attend.

"The situation with the ruined round table underlines not only the fact that environmental impact monitoring is not proceeding successfully, but that the organizing committee is doing everything that is possible to sabotage real exchange of information between the public and the UNEP international experts," an EWNC release said.

Sochi 2014 disputed those claims in a statement to Around the Rings.

"The UNEP experts' official visit to Sochi included open meetings with the public regarding the ecological aspects of the preparations for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games," a statement said.

Russian Olympic organizers said the meetings took place Monday and Tuesday.

"NGOs, Sochi 2014 stakeholders, governmental and local authority representatives all took an active part in the consultations which were held in round table format," the statement continues.

Sochi 2014 emphasized that the collaboration with the NGOs "remains one of the most important parts of the environmental progress".

Open round tables are also scheduled for Thursday and Friday with UNEP representatives and representatives NGOs.

UNEP is working on the Sochi 2014 ecological program and recommendations to ensure that the strategy is applied across Games preparations.

Energy Center Opens On 2012 Site

The energy center powering London's 2012 Olympic Park was opened Tuesday by London Mayor Boris Johnson, Olympic Delivery Authority CEO David Higgins and Gérard Mestrallet, chairman of GDF SUEZ, who will own and operate the new facility.

The center will provide an efficient low-carbon heating and cooling system across the east London site for the Games and for the new buildings and communities that will be built there after 2012.

It will also contribute toward the ODA’s overall target to reduce carbon emissions by 50% across the Olympic Park.

"It is an environmental imperative that we harness the delivery of the 2012 Games to raise new standards of sustainability," Johnson said in a statement.

Rio Briefs ...

...The hotel business in Rio de Janeiro awaits an exciting week. The city council will vote on proposals by Mayor Eduardo Paes to incentivize the hotel industry and its necessary expansion. Paes hopes the tax breaks will spark to the construction of at least nine new hotels by the end of 2015. The city has 29,000 rooms but needs 50,000 by Games-time to comply with the IOC’s demands...

...Rio 2016 wants to use the stadium of the Vasco da Gama soccer club for rugby matches during the Games. Vasco president Roberto Dinamite signed an agreement in July, but the club’s advisory board must still lend its blessing. Rio 2016 president Carlos Nuzman has given the club until the end of the month to announce its decision. When the IOC Coordination Commission next visits in December, organizers need to have settled where the 2016 rugby matches will be held. The Vasco stadium will need serious renovation to become an Olympic venue...

...Paes signed an agreement for cooperation and exchange of experiences with London. The English capital is seen as an example of a city that has overcome its problems with traffic and transport, initially seen as major obstacles for staging the 2012 Summer Games...

...o Globo columnist Ancelmo Gois reported last week that Nuzman will invite André Sougarret, chief of the rescue team that saved the Chilean miners, to advise the Rio 2016 organizing committee...

...Rio 2016 promises to raise more than $600 million in sponsorships and licensing. The organizing committee forecasts $270 million dollars domestic investment, $288 million dollars in foreign funds and another $45 million in licensing. Organizers will present details at a sponsorship event in Rio slated for Nov. 25...

Written by Mark Bisson and Phil de Wit.