Kazakhstan wants 2/3 of 2022 Olympics costs to be funded by investors

The Ministry of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan has decided to use a mixed model of funding for the Winter Olympics 2022, should Almaty be chosen to host the event, Tengrinews reports citing Almaty TV Channel.

The Ministry said that the country would have to cover only a third of all expected expenses, while the rest would be provided through sponsorship and advertising.

"Russia has used a mixed model at the Olympics in Sochi. Their income made $10 billion. Japan has officially declared that it would be able to earn $30 billion from hosting the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in 2020," Vice-Minister of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan Tastanbekov Yesentai said.

“We also want to stick to the mixed model of financial management, in which the share of state involvement would be 33% and the rest will be raised by investors. In that case we will be able to hold the Olympics in 2022 at a proper level," he said.

Previously, director of Alau Ice Palace in Astana Nail Nurov said that the Olympic Games “should become a celebration of sport, not a vanity fair”, drawing attention to the rising costs of Olympic Games. For example, the Olympic Games in Sochi cost more than $50 billion, which raised the bar to “unbelievable organizational heights”, he said.

Nurov proposed dividing the Olympics between two cities – Almaty and Astana, which was actually the case during the Asian Games 2011. This would reduce the number of facilities that Kazakhstan needs to built for the Olympics. 

However, this idea was rejected by the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan. “It can be only one city,” Vice-President of NOC of Kazakhstan Pavel Novikov said citing the Olympic rules.

Novikov added that Almaty had good chances to win the bid to host the Olympics in 2022 and the city looked “solid in the competitions with Beijing”. The Chinese capital is Kazakhstan’s only competitor. The third competitor, Oslo, withdrew from the bid citing financial reasons.

Close proximity of sports facilities (withing a 35km radius) was named Almaty's main advantage. In Beijing, all of the facilities are located far from one another. In addition, the city hosted Summer Olympics in 2008, lowering thereby the chances to host another such event.

The city to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games will be announced next summer in Kuala-Lumpur.

By Dinara Urazova