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The Russian government plans to overhaul laws to speed up construction of venues for the 2014 Winter Olympics, a senior official said Thursday.

Red tape was thwarting the preparations, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told reporters.

"We have a gigantic administrative resource but nevertheless have to waste a crazy amount of time to obtain all the permits for each construction site," said Kozak, who is overseeing preparations for the Olympics.

Russia created Olympstroi, a state corporation with special powers, to manage the 102 billion roubles (2 billion pounds) budget for the construction of Olympic sites in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Severely hit by an economic crisis, Russia is striving to modernise its economy and reduce dependency on natural resources but poor institutions, red tape and corruption are holding back economic development.

Kozak criticised Russia's land code, urban construction code, property registration rules and many other laws. He said "the bitter experience" of getting ready for the games must be used to overhaul the murky regulation. Corruption is especially rampant in the construction industry, until recently one of Russia's most lucrative sectors.

The 2014 Games are a pet project of Vladimir Putin, now Russia's powerful prime minister.

Putin asked officials in charge of preparations for the Olympics to use budget funds sparingly during a meeting in his Sochi residence Thursday.

(Source: Reuters)