Russian Accounts Chamber finds no financial breaches in preparation for Universiade

The audit of spending the budget funs allocated to prepare for Universiade 2013 revealed no financial breaches, Russian Accounts Chamber chairman Sergey Stepashin said following a joint staff meeting of the Russia and Tatarstan Accounts Chambers.

“No financial breaches, abuse of budget funds has been revealed,” Stepashin told journalists. “The only thing is we notice an increase in the cost of the project of 9 billion roubles, but the republic has substantiated the increase to the federal government. But this is life, there are the issues of technologies, security, constructing the Village, football stadium – the republic has presented all the documents justifying the increase.”

Sergey Stepashin noted the cost of building facilities in Tatarstan was relatively small. “The price of a square metre in the Universiade Village is 31.7 thousand roubles per square metre – one of the smallest in the country,” S. Stepashin stressed. “I have something to compare it with. The preparation for the APEC summit is more expensive, I am not saying anything about Sochi yet.”

According to the joint meeting’s documents, the total investment in the construction and reconstruction of the Universiade’s 65 venues from various sources is estimated at 36.6 billion roubles. The schedule provides for 100-percent financing from the federal budget of another 30 facilities.

As of September 1, 2010, the Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers disbursed 11.4 billion roubles of the 20.9 billion roubles provided from the federal budget to the Tatarstan budget in subsidies, to build the Universiade facilities on co-financing terms.

Funding the reconstruction of 27 facilities and building 4 new facilities (a football stadium, a grass hockey centre phase two, a sports and shooting complexes) from the Tatarstan’s budget is planned. The preliminary investment cost of the facilities funded from the republican budget is 5.9 billion roubles.