S. Porter / Vedomosti

The Main Construction Directorate of Krasnodar Krai has signed a contract with Krasnodarvodstroy OJSC worth 435.4 million rubles to adjust the design and build the ornithopark, according to the state procurement website. The company received the contract at the maximum price because two of its competitors were not allowed to participate in the tender.

Initially, the ornithopark was supposed to cost 182.9 million rubles; the first tender of the construction department was also won by Krasnodarvodstroy at the maximum price. Dmitry Shibko, CEO of the company 146th Department of Capital Construction (Moscow Region), which was not allowed to participate in both ornithological tenders, declined to comment.

"The project was adjusted because the state corporation "Olimpstroy" was supposed to hand over a perfectly flat site to the contractor, but handed it over with piles of garbage, redesigning and relief work were required. The requirements for landscaping also changed, it was decided to use not only seedlings but also trees for landscaping; some structures, a water supply system, an irrigation system, and electrical networks were added," explained an official of the main construction department. The contractor should complete the work in December.

The director of the budgetary institution "Ornitological Park in the Imeretinskaya Lowland" Daniil Pomorov says that the park consists of 14 clusters in Imeretinka, along the Psou and in the foothills with a total area of 298 hectares, only a few clusters in Imeretinka with an area of 43.3 hectares are being developed (paths, fences, toilets, parking, landscaping), which will become a park area with access for visitors, the rest will remain for scientific purposes, because the ornithopark is being created as part of compensation measures.

"This year we started monitoring birds in the ornithopark, in January-November 103 species of birds were recorded. Imeretinka lies on the migration route of birds, and in cold winters a large number of waterfowl can be observed here, so far there is no mass migration, only single individuals are found," explained the leading specialist of the ornithopark Evgeniya Shchelokova. In the future, according to her, it is planned to install nesting boxes for waterfowl and feeding posts.

The Olympic construction destroyed a unique ornithological territory where millions of birds nested every year. The ornithopark is a tourist show-off and a waste of money, the birds will not return, Dmitry Shevchenko, deputy coordinator of the Environmental Watch for the North Caucasus, said earlier.

Birds have become more expensive