Approximately Br22 billion will be allocated for the construction and renovation of sports facilities in the Vitebsk region in 2010

February 24, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. In 2010, it is planned to allocate about Br22 billion for the construction, reconstruction and repair of sports facilities in the Vitebsk region. This was announced by Mikhail Portnoy, head of the department of physical culture, sports and tourism of the regional executive committee, today at the final meeting of the department's board, a BELTA correspondent reports. This year, the construction of the Ice Palace in Orsha, started in 2009, will continue, as well as the reconstruction of the stadium in Glubokoye, sports complexes in Miory, Postavy, Rossony and Vitebsk, and a number of other facilities. Repair work is planned to be carried out at almost 20 sports facilities for a total amount of about Br3 billion. In addition, it is necessary to actively attract investments in the construction of roadside service facilities, of which exactly 100 are to be built in the region by the order of the chairman of the regional executive committee, Mikhail Portnoy noted. In 2009, about Br20 billion was allocated for the construction and reconstruction of sports facilities. Last year, over 1.9 thousand sports and mass events were held in the region, the number of their participants increased by more than 4 thousand compared to 2008 and amounted to over 174 thousand people. District sports and recreation clubs have been established under all sports and tourism departments to work with rural residents, with more than 14% of rural residents involved in physical fitness and recreation activities. In addition, departments for sports have been organized at the district branches of the Children and Youth Sports School in rural areas. These departments enroll more than 8% of the total number of students living in rural areas. In total, more than 1.5 thousand sports groups and clubs operate in the Vitebsk region, and about 15% of the region's population is involved in physical education. -0-