Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed an amendment to the federal housing law providing innovative projects with free land, the Kremlin press service said on Wednesday.
The amendment, which was approved by the lower and upper houses of the Russian parliament in early May, is aimed primarily at the Skolkovo high-tech research hub, which is being built from scratch 20 km west of Moscow city center.
"The aim of the legislation is to create a legislative framework for the early settlement of property and land relations on the territory of the innovative center in Skolkovo," the statement said.
The legislation will also simplify the process of moving land plots from one category to another and ensure that normal land-use regulations do not apply to the Skolkovo project.
The activities of the high-tech research hub in Skolkovo, dubbed Russia's Silicon Valley, will focus on five priority spheres: energy, information technologies, communication, biomedical research and nuclear technologies.
Russia considers the development of the high-tech and innovation sector its top priority, pledging billions of U.S. dollars to finance the sector.
MOSCOW, May 26 (RIA Novosti)
