NOVO-OGAREVO — Workers in Sochi are still building the city's new power grid less than a month before the Winter Olympics get under way, the energy minister has said.
Generators and other facilities are in place but the grid, with a web of 900 kilometers of power cable and 500 substations, is unlikely to come online until Jan. 25, just 13 days before the opening ceremony.
"We're planning to finish all the work by Jan. 20 and to get permission to put the grid to use by Jan. 25," Alexander Novak said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Of 49 major energy projects for the Sochi Olympics, the grid is "the only facility that's still being worked on," Novak added.
Construction of facilities for the Sochi Olympics has been largely smooth, avoiding the last-minute rush that brought notoriety to some Olympic Games of the past, such as Athens 2004.
The Games run from Feb. 7 through 23.
