In Vladivostok, a road that cost 29 billion rubles (about $950 million at the time) to build was washed away by a “heavy rain.”
http://youtu.be/tOIDPmfH7EQ Oh, the fury of the elements. It raged so hard that it washed away these incredibly reliable structures — and they must be incredibly reliable, since they cost several times more than similar structures in other countries. Strange that weather websites show no sign that Vladik (informal for Vladivostok) was hit by simooms, tornadoes, typhoons, tsunamis, and earthquakes. They must be hiding it — surely a road that cost 29 billion rubles (about $950 million at the time) couldn’t have fallen apart because of ordinary rain. They talked about this case on TV, and since it happened right in the city, it won’t be all that easy to sweep under the rug. But here’s an even more interesting case. In KhMAO (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug), money was allocated for the reconstruction of a biathlon stadium. A lot of money. For the final stage of reconstruction alone: 1.7 billion rubles (about $56 million at the time). Let me stress that again: $56 million for the final stage of reconstruction, not for new construction. In other words, this was not a brand-new stadium built in an empty field. All the infrastructure was already there. So this is almost certainly the most expensive biathlon stadium in Russia and, with 99% certainty, the most expensive in the world. Then it rained: Russia’s best biathlon stadium, renovated for several billion rubles, was left without its tracks.
I asked the RosPil team to find information on who got the construction contract and how. As we expected, there is no trace of any information about the contract. The only thing visible is that there was a tender for design work. I’m willing to bet the “winner” got the contract without any competition. And now, meet the winner:
This is Alexander Mikhailovich Vaisburd. The president and owner of the construction company that built the world’s most expensive biathlon tracks — the ones that were washed away by rain. A member of United Russia and a United Russia deputy. We do not know exactly how much of those $56 million Alexander Mikhailovich kicked back to his higher-ranking party comrades, but he clearly did kick some back, and he certainly did not come out at a loss himself. He made some very effective savings on advanced construction methods. I don’t believe more than 20% of the budget allocation actually went to the construction work itself. That also answers the question: “Why do people join United Russia when everyone hates and despises members of that party?” Maybe they do hate them, maybe they do despise them. But it makes it easy to get contracts without competition. You can build roads at the price of a spaceship. And nothing will happen to you if the road gets washed away by rain. The contract was awarded to VNSS. When this amount was approved in December 2010, deputies in the KhMAO Duma expressed outrage. “We would like to understand what this money is for. What is this — are they going to build a roof over the biathlon center? What are such huge sums of money for?” deputy Sergei Kandakov asked government representatives at the time. RosPil will try to monitor whether the local authorities force Mr. Vaisburd to redo everything at his own expense. And what measures, if any, will be taken in response to the obvious embezzlement of funds allocated for the stadium. We will send inquiries and publish the replies. PS We are anxiously awaiting a heavy rain in the city of Sochi.