‘Kazan is turning into a large construction site in the next two months’

“BRICS Summit is the main challenge of the year for us”

Operational headquarters have begun to be gathered in Kazan to prepare the city for the BRICS Summit and Games. As the mayor of the city, Ilsur Metshin, reported on 4 April, work plans and financing have been approved, work on a number of facilities has already begun:

“BRICS Summit is the main challenge of the year for us. Kazan has received the status of a venue for global political forums, being the sports capital — this cannot but inspire. Kazan got a chance to represent the whole of Russia. We must understand and share responsibility. I am sure that we will be able to justify the high trust of the president of Russia.”

There is a lot of work to be done, but the city is ready for this, the mayor added. According to him, an additional motivation will be that after each such responsible forum, the level of improvement of the city is growing and all this will become a legacy of the tournament for Kazan residents.

Repair of more than 20 road sections and 1 million flowers

The largest amount of work in preparation for the summit is in construction. The republic has allocated more than 8 billion rubles for the improvement of 26 protocol routes along which foreign delegations of the BRICS Games will travel. Eight sections of roads will be repaired, and work is already underway on some of them. By the end of April, workers are to begin to renovate other streets and complete the work by June 5, the deputy head of the Executive Committee of Kazan, Igor Kulyazhev, stated.

Besdies, more than two dozen road sections will be repaired in the city for 3.85 billion rubles for the BRICS Games. The work has already begun on five sites. In the remaining sections, repairs are to begin within a month and will be completed by September.

Street lighting will be replaced at 22 sites. The repair of four underground pedestrian crossings is in full swing.

The city began to change 13 elevators in six aboveground pedestrian crossings. Eight existing public toilets will also be replaced and four new ones will be installed. In terms of landscaping, 300 trees, 5,300 shrubs and about 1 million flowers will be planted along the main hospitality route. On the Orenburgsky Tract, guests will be greeted by the Kazan stele with a height of 5.5 m, which is going to become a new urban art object. The composition will be made in the colours of the Kazan visual identity in a modern stylisation and with the illumination of part of the letters. 56 illuminated floating fountains will be installed on Bulachnaya Streets.

About 5k participants from 74 countries

4,700 athletes and members of delegations, including 3,635 foreign participants, are expected to come to Kazan for the BRICS Games. The tournament itself is held from June 10 to 26 and brings together representatives of 74 countries, including 10 BRICS member states, including Russia.

The competitions are held in 29 sports (20 Olympic and nine non-Olympic), 27 of them in Kazan: boxing, breaking, beach volleyball, beach handball, kayaking and canoeing, rowing, judo, karate, koresh, belt wrestling, athletics, table tennis, swimming, diving, sambo, synchronised swimming, skateboarding, wrestling, gymnastics, tennis, wushu, fencing, basketball doubles, football doubles, rhythmic gymnastics, chess, weightlifting, badminton and equestrian sports. The All-Russian Federation of Dance Sports, Breaking and Acrobatic Rock and Roll has proposed to hold competitions in two more sports (breaking and acrobatic rock and roll) at one of the facilities in Moscow.

“During the BRICS Games, it is planned to use 18 sports facilities, 17 of them — in Kazan. These are municipal facilities, which are currently undergoing major repairs. You have heard that one facility is in Moscow, these competitions were supposed to take place in the Crocus City Hall, but in connection with recent events, the question of what space to provide to participants is being considered," said Guzel Sagitova, the deputy head of the Executive Committee of Kazan.

The initiative will be considered at a meeting of the federal organising committee. 389 sets of medals are planned to be awarded as part of the tournament. The opening of the games is held on June 12, on Russia Day, although there are no special celebrations on this occasion.

“A special event — the opening ceremony of the Games — will be held in the Universiade Village. This is likely to be a private event, in the format of a street performance. Following the example of the opening of the Games of the Future at Kazan Expo, we will report on the broadcast later. Besides, our city events are to be held on Russia Day, many interesting Russian stars have been announced," the speaker clarified.

The Russian national team will have about 1,100 people. Athletes from Kazan sports schools are candidates for the national teams. The list is being formed, it is expected that eight athletes will represent Kazan. The delegations of the participating teams are planned to be placed in the Universiade Village. The end of the tournament will be a visit of the Sabantuy festival by participants and guests on June 23.

The renovation of the sports complexes came in handy, more than 10 years have passed since the Universiade, as they were built, the mayor noted. “In this sense, the BRICS Games are a blessing from above," he said.

“We have a busy season of work ahead”

51 accommodation facilities are being prepared for the participants of the BRICS summit — these are 46 hotels of various categories, Universiade Village, Balkysh sanatorium, Ak Bars HC guest house, Volga youth centre, and an apartment building in the M14 microdistrict. The latter is planned to accommodate journalists who will cover the event. The new building is due to be completed in September.

12 hotels and guest houses will be used to accommodate foreign delegations, 18 hotels — for delegations of invited countries, 9 hotels — for media representatives, 7 facilities — for other groups, and 5 more hotels — in reserve. The chairman of the Committee for the Development of Tourism in Kazan, Daria Sannikova, told how the inspection rounds of hotels take place. According to her, most hotels are actively building presidential rooms and additional suites, and repairing the room stock.

“Nevertheless, there are hotels where repairs have not yet begun or are being carried out at a slow pace," she noted, adding that all work should be completed by April 30.

The facades of 39 apartment buildings, where 9 thousand residents live, will also be repaired along the routes of the guests. These works will complement the overhaul programme. . .

A large amount of work is to be done to repair 14 sites on water supply, sanitation and heat supply networks in the body of roads, 602 million rubles have been allocated for this. The replacement of the most emergency areas will increase the reliability of the municipal system of the city, said the deputy head of the executive committee, Iskander Giniyatullin:

“Over the past five years, more than 100 accidents have occurred on these networks. Some sections were built in the 1930s and 1980s, and wear is 100% here.”

“You've heard the figures. There has been no repair for 40 years or more. Given the wear and tear of the networks, this is a small but extremely important step towards updating the networks. We are going to have a busy season of work ahead, while our mind should remain calm. In the next two months, the city is turning into a large construction site. Our apologies for the inconvenience to the citizens. I hope everyone will appreciate the changes after the work is done. Each direction will be under control, we must show a good team game at the super league level," the mayor instructed.

During the BRICS Games and the Summit, all organisations of the communal complex are switching to enhanced round-the-clock duty. The emergency stock of necessary materials and equipment has been fully formed. Scheduled work related to the temporary disconnection of Kazan residents from energy resources will not be carried out for the duration of the events, officials assured.