Far East Development Minister Viktor Ishayev said he saw "no tragedy" in the destruction of part of a thruway built for an upcoming international summit in Vladivostok, while the road builder said the damaged section of road has been repaired.
A retaining wall and part of a road connecting the Vladivostok airport to Russky Island, the site of September's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, collapsed after heavy rains on June 12.
The calculations used to design the road may have been inaccurate, and the builders had never worked at such heights as those where the road is located, Ishayev told journalists Tuesday, Interfax reported.
"I see no tragedy in this," Ishayev said, adding that the road planners should have taken into account the conditions of the roadbed.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev seethed over the road collapse at a meeting with his deputies last week, and the Primorye governor fired the region's top roads official Monday as a result of the accident.
The damaged section of road and retaining wall have been restored, and the road is tentatively scheduled to open for traffic July 2, Pacific Ocean Bridge-Building Company, or TMK, spokeswoman Olga Zarubina told RIA-Novosti on Tuesday.
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