07.11.2009
The Supreme leadership of the country wishes to transfer some Capital city functions from Moscow to St. Petersburg. But would that be economically justified? And how much will this transfer cost to the Russian treasury? If you count only the construction cost of such necessary facilities as a watershield dam protecting the city from floods, circumferential highway around the city, relocation of state administrative bodies, as well as establishment of relevant services and infrastructure, the sum is enormous. And that’s not counting the construction of a modern highway and reconstruction of an existing railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow, with complete replacement of rolling stock. Moreover, transfer of the General Staff of Russian Navy from Moscow to St. Petersburg may have unpredictable consequences for the operational management of Russia’s defense capability.
Unfortunately, today many anti-state “advices” come from the so-called “trusted individuals” from the inner circle of the Supreme leadership of the country. Among these individuals, there are also those experts, analysts, consultants, advisers, assistants and other corrupt, deceitful, hypocritical and cynical “backstage workers” and “shady dealers” engulfed in frauds, scams and anti-state crimes, whom we inherited from the period of uncontrolled reign of “Tsar Boris”. They retained their ability to influence the opinion of the Russian “ruling elite” and their decision-making. The same people cover the results of the “reforms” conducted by Anatoly Chubais and the criminal activity of his team members. They know very well that Chubais organized the collapse of the country’s industry, agriculture and science, and carries information about those who undermined Russia’s economy and those who benefitted from it – in case of his arrest, Chubais will hand all his accomplices over into the hands of justice.
It is clear that the current Supreme leadership of Russia wishes to reconstruct and refurbish old industrial buildings of St. Petersburg and construct new ones, as well as bring them all under a single administrative management in order to develop the region with maximum efficiency. The desire to build in St. Petersburg something unusual and grandiose, embodying the city’s development in the XXI century, manifests in the project for construction of the “Gazprom-City” – administrative and business center on the right bank of the Neva River in the Malaya Okhta municipality of the Okhta river. The total area of the complex is 360 thousand square meters, and the main building is 400 meters high. Undoubtedly, the architecture of this unusual skyscraper in general is based on modern high-tech constructivism and pragmatic rationalism of urban planning. But it is for the citizens to decide if its shape and size to fit the world heritage urban architecture of St. Petersburg.
The estimated cost of the construction of the “Gazprom-City” administrative and business center, with its 81-storey skyscraper, is $2.1 Billion U.S. dollars. Such a technically complex piece of architecture, calculated per square meter, turned out to be 20 times cheaper than a 22-storey building that state-owned Oil Company Rosneft JSC bought from an intermediary called Prana LLC for $3.4 Billion – at an auction held in May 2007. This office building on Dubininskaya street, 33, with a total area of 28.6 thousand square meters, used to belong to YUKOS company and was purchased by Oil Company Rosneft JSC at 119 thousand U.S. dollars per square meter. And that’s while Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin demands that new housing for Russian citizens were sold at a price not exceeding $1000 per per square meter.
Building skyscrapers like “Gazprom-City” only makes sense in combination with similarly looking objects to create a single ensemble, in which the past, present and future of St. Petersburg would live side by side in harmony, creating a unique landscape, infrastructure and an appearance of the metropolis as a whole, including the lighting of buildings at night. A tall standalone building, looking like a corn cob, will look forlornly, with unique World Heritage sites on the background – in the city where height of buildings and structures is organized according to the general plan of the Northern capital. It is high time for a free, civilized business to take root in St. Petersburg, regardless of the presence of “Gazprom-City” administrative & business center (ABC), in the mouth of Okhta river or elsewhere. It makes more sense to construct a new district, which consists of a complex of skyscrapers, forming a single metropolis. This requires the business to do real long-term investments, from their own money and raised funds, into the socio-economic development and infrastructure of the “city-museum”.
Of course, St. Petersburg needs “Gazprom-City” to supplement the revenues of the city and improve employment rates. Its construction will bring architectural innovation to the city’s infrastructure. But ABC will be much more beneficial for the development of civilized business in Russia, the economy and statehood of which collapsed in 1990s because of the “reformers”. A modern, comprehensive services sector in ABC “Gazprom-City” will create conditions for comfortable, fruitful and efficient work for the real business. (For tactical reasons, on 16.03.2007 the project was renamed from “Administrative & business center “Gazprom-City” to “Social & business district “Okhta-Center”).