Amid plans to expand radically Moscow’s city limits, the mayor Sergey Sobyanin and his team have come up with some ideas on what they would do with the extra space.
As decided by the authorities, the territory of Moscow is to increase by 144,000 hectares, or by 2.4 times. The capital is to incorporate a vast stretch of land which currently lies outside its south-western border – the area between the Kiev and Warsaw motorways.
President Medvedev first raised the idea of extending the capital’s limits at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in June. The direct order came following Moscow and Moscow Region’s agreement, after a decade of talks, on an exact border between the two districts.
The original idea behind the plan was to relocate the headquarters of state officials outside the capital. President Medvedev believes that this could be a good way to decongest the capital’s overcrowded roads and to make the city more attractive for financial workers, thus turning it into an international financial center.
Apart from housing administrative buildings, the new land will also be used for residential construction. More than two million new homes are expected to be built on the new territory within the next 20 years.
The district will also see renovations as far as transportation is concerned. The government plans to spend a large sum of money on the reconstruction of the Kiev and Kaluga motorways that go through the territory.