Soccer in Donetsk, as much else in the city, is all about one man – Rinat Akhmetov. The oligarch’s millions propelled Shakhtar Donetsk to victory last season in European club soccer’s second most prestigious tournament, the UEFA Cup. He also put $400 million into the construction of the Donbas Arena, the most modern and largest stadium in Ukraine with a capacity of 50,000, which opened in August.
The billionaire’s huge investments – widely seen as prestige and popularity projects – have been a huge boost to Euro 2012 preparations. “Plans to build the two stadiums [In Donetsk and Kharkiv] were in place well before Euro 2012, so the interest was not in the tournament, but in the private interests of those two people [Akhmetov and Oleksandr Yaroslavsky],” said Pavlo Tsirul, head of the Euro 2012 Citizens’ Control Committee, a non-governmental organization that is tracking preparations. “The problem is that these private initiatives were not integrated into the state preparation plan.”
While Akhmetov has plowed in the funds for the stadium, Donetsk’s problems all along have focused on a lack of hotel space, which requires private investment, and infrastructure, which relies on state funding. “The state program foresees the financing of all of the facilities – airports, roads, transport. That’s why the obligation of the state is to find sources [of funds] and to finance these facilities. Hotels are the task of business, [and] that’s why such cities as Makiyivka, Mariupol, Sviatohorsk, Kramatorsk and Khartsyzk cooperate with business in order to attract investment to construct new hotels,” Anatoliy Blizniuk, the chairman of Donetsk regional council, said on Dec. 14. He added that the city’s total spending, including the stadium, would come to Hr 6-8 billion.
But as of yet, the top-quality stadium is a rose among thorns, said Jonathan Wilson, a historian specializing in Eastern European soccer. “A stadium alone might draw people to your city now and again, but day to day it’s not going to bring money in, so it’s got to be allied to wider infrastructure – better roads, transport, hotels,” he said. This would help Donetsk to take advantage of the thousands of foreign fans pouring into the country, which could boost tourism, or encourage visitors to return if they enjoy their stay.
Blizniuk and Volodymyr Logvinenko, governor of Donetsk Oblast, expressed confidence that the infrastructure projects would be finished on time and bring benefits to the region. “This event will once and for all open up our region for the whole world, so that hundreds of thousands of foreign guests can see its beauty and greatness, can feel its hospitality and openness,” they said in a joint statement following UEFA’s announcement.
But some question the use that the rapid infrastructure improvements will get after the tournament. Tsirul said preparations for Euro 2012 suffer from a lack of planning, and from Ukrainian politicians’ keenness to dance to UEFA’s tune in order to secure the tournament and the accompanying political points. Planned investments have not been adapted to the strictures of the economic crisis, nor has thought been given to the profitability of projects in the years after 2012. “It’s all out of proportion,” Tsirul said. “It’s not clear how all these projects financed by the taxpayer will bring benefits after the tournament.”
Kyiv Post staff writer James Marson can be reached at [email protected].
