Moscow, December 17, RIA Novosti. Moscow will get about 1,300 hectares (3,200 acres) of new pedestrian areas, the head of the Central Administrative District (CAD) said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Thursday.

New routes and “old” traffic jams

The special program is geared to the tourist route from Neskuchny Sad to Moscow-City, an international business center.
“The program is not progressing as fast as we would like. It is 15-20% complete,” Alexei Alexandrov said.

He mentioned several pedestrian bridges, the covered Andreyevsky and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Bridges, as well as the Pushkinskaya pedestrian embankment with berths for riverboats, the Europe Square ensemble with the “Rape of Europe” Fountain and the Yevropeisky shopping center.

It will be a single system, with the route passing through the Central, Southern, Southwestern and Western Administrative Districts.

“Located along the main route are Gagarin Square, which is an architecture ensemble, Neskuchny Sad and Gorky Park, the Andreyevsky pedestrian esplanade with a bridge and embankment, the Trubetskoi Estate, the Devichye Pole Square and other sites. The total area of the route is over 1,300 hectares,” the head of the Central Administrative District said.

Reconstruction works will start shortly with the square at the entrance to the Central Gorky Park and Neskuchny Sad with an underground parking lot and a complex of public amenities.

In creating new routes the administration is mindful of the endemic problem of traffic jams, which still paralyze the city center.

“We must take a comprehensive approach to the problem. It involves changing the way road traffic is organized, allocating lanes for public transport, introducing one-way traffic in some streets which now have two-way traffic and introducing reverse traffic where space permits. Add to this a flexible control system for traffic lights, a ban on the construction of office buildings in the center of Moscow and so on,” Alexandrov said.

He believes the number of jobs in the city center should be reduced. The Central District is home to 670,000 people and has more than 2 million jobs, the official said.

“Perhaps staggering should be introduced, with some starting work at 8 a.m., others at 9 a.m. and others at 10 a.m.,” Alexandrov said.

Landmarks

Speaking about the development of the underground space on Pushkin Square, which has been the subject of heated public debate, Alexandrov argued that it would simplify traffic in the area.

“Reconstruction of Pushkin Square is part of the larger program called the Leningrad Expressway. There is not a single traffic light on Tverskaya Zastava Square, at Sokol and up until the Moscow Ring Road; the only traffic light is on Pushkin Square. But there are constant traffic jams on Pushkin Square because it located at the intersection of the Boulevard Ring and Tverskaya Street. The Boulevard Ring will go into a tunnel and the plan is to build a common   connecting passage for passengers of all the three metro lines converging here, a cinema, a skating-rink and a large underground parking lot.” Under the new project retail space will be cut drastically.

“The overground part of Pushkin Square will remain unchanged. At present some archeological work is under way there and the final decision will be taken based on its results. I think the project will be approved in 2010. As soon as the archaeological digs are completed the project will get underway,” he added.

Alexandrov said that the investment contract for the reconstruction of Detsky Mir (Children’s World) shopping centre on Lubyanka Square has been extended because the building turned out to be in a worse condition than previously estimated.

“Experts are working to determine the feasibility of reinforcing the main support structures. Anyway, the building will remain a retail complex known to all the Muscovites as Children’s World,” he added.

Detsky Mir: how a Soviet era shopping mall became a legend

Speaking about another landmark project, reconstruction of the Central Artists’ House on Krymsky Val, Alexandrov noted that the project would be amended based on the results of public hearings on the matter.

“The plan has been criticized on many points. I am not going to comment on the public hearings. The initial plan was to have two new buildings closer to Sadovoye Koltso. As this is an investment project, a hotel would be built on the present site. The territory of the Muzeon Park will be left untouched, and in fact will be expanded. The plan should be considered as a whole. Parking space is needed under Krymsky Bridge, from which there should be an exit onto the embankment,” he said.

No more communal flats

One of the key projects the CAD administration is working on is to eliminate communal flats.

At present there are over 9,000 communal flats housing 22,000 families, of which 4,500 are on the waiting list to get individual government-funded flats. “We have a program to eliminate communal flats in the Central District. The program has two stages: the first, to be completed by 2014, will focus on the families that are already on the waiting list for government flats. The second stage, to be completed by 2019, will take care of those communal flats whose occupants are not on the waiting list. Let me stress that we are talking only about flats that are the city’s property,” he noted.

Alexandrov explained that the elimination of communal flats involves several affordable housing programs that are being implemented in the city.

“We have combined these programs with the program of eliminating communal flats. As a result, this year we set the target of eliminating more than 500 such flats, compared with a little over 100 in 2008. As of December 1 we had already eliminating 560 communal flats,” the he said.

The administration has proposed a number of alternative schemes.

“They include, for example, offering discounts to enable a family that remains in the communal flat to buy it out for itself. Another proposal: If a family occupies one room in a communal flat and buys new housing under one of the several programs and the communal flat remains in the city ownership, the cost of the room which the family previously occupied should be deduced from the cost of the new housing,” Alexandrov said.

He noted that in 2008, 95% of the occupants of former communal flats stayed to reside in the Central District and in 2009 the figure was 98%. “You would agree that it is a very high percentage. If we are to keep it at that level more new municipal housing must be built. Last year we built 78,000 square meters of housing, this year a little less, but still within the overall target. Of course times are hard, it is difficult to build, but we hope to preserve the same level next year in order to relocate the inhabitants of our district from old houses deemed to be unsafe and to continue renovating blocks in the CAD,” he said.

Old Moscow-style schools

This year three new kindergartens and three schools opened in the district, Alexandrov said.

“Currently under construction is a new building on Broshevsky Pereulok to which a school from the Sretensky Monastery will be moved. This is one of several social projects we are working on,” Alexandrov said.

One should bear in mind that in the Central District all the buildings, whether residential, kindergartens, schools, or shopping centers, are built according to individual designs.

“Any custom-made project is more expensive than a standard one. We have no use for standard projects because we cannot afford to save money on the center of the capital. We must preserve the look of old Moscow and that means that every building should have individuality,” he noted.

The new buildings are adjusted to the needs of disabled people.

“For example, the kindergarten on Kovrov Pereulok (Taganka Area) has facilities for children with disabilities.”

In his words, the interests of disabled people are invariably taken into account when buildings are restored or demolished.