Allocation of land plots temporarily stopped in Sochi

Acting Mayor of Sochi Anatoly Pakhomov, who is in this post from January 20, has announced a temporary moratorium on allocation of land plots for real estate construction, including dwelling houses, having accused bureaucrats of corruption.

"In Sochi, some 70-80 percent of land is allocated bypassing tenders, therefore I've announced a two-month moratorium on allocation of plots for construction and a temporary moratorium on allocation of plots for multi-apartment construction," Mr Pakhomov said on March 18 at the Sochi Forum of Entrepreneurs.

Anatoly Pakhomov said that because of corruption among the officials of city administration he had cancelled tenders on capital repairs of apartment houses. Out of the money allocated for repairs of 144 houses, 47 million roubles were planned on "unclear prospecting and exploration works," the "Lenta.ru" gives Mayor Pakhomov's words.

The Mayor also stated unsatisfactory work of Oleg Gusev, Chief City's Architect. "We'll not be able to work together. I think he'd better leave his workplace. It'll be better for us and, certainly, for Sochi," the "Yuga.ru" quotes Mayor of Sochi as saying.

We remind you that on February 14 Sochi hosted a presentation of the final version of the city general plan. Yuri Lvov, a well-known Sochi architect, said that the city has fallen victim to mass commercialization and uncontrollable 20-year development. Mr Lvov draw attention to the fact that Sochi has no cinemas, there is no sea embankment in the city, all the beaches are fenced off, the city is overcrowded with automobiles and built-up with commercial "skyscrapers" for sale.