MOSCOW, February 19 (Itar-Tass) —— The competition of the Bigger Moscow concept has received 67 applications, Moscow’s chief architect Alexander Kuzmin said in an interview with the Moscow 24 television channel.
He spoke about the concept of competitive selection of the Bigger Moscow development.
"On January 13, we announced a contest and were very worried wondering whether we are interesting for the world, it turned out – yes, very interesting. To date, 67 applications were submitted," Kuzmin said, adding that the contestants, "if you take the geography of the world, if we look to the east, are from Japan and from the West - from Canada. From Sweden - in the north, and to Australia - in the south. "
According to Kuzmin, the jury, along with representatives of Russian organisations - the Ministry of Regional Development, the Academy of Architecture, and others - will feature two experts from France and Spain, "who have been engaged in their metropolitan cities."
"I think the main challenge is not to make it more difficult to live in the new territory. Now we study the situation with schools, kindergartens, how to locate the police stations and other objects – this is the most laborious work, but it is very important. People should live there better or no worse than what they have now – this is the main task," Kuzmin said.
Parallel to this, architect said, now colleagues in construction sector start adjusting plans for construction and reconstruction for this year and they have identified already "weak points" to begin building top-priority facilities – roads and hospitals.
"We are getting in fact not just a district – but territories of the Podolsk, Narofominsk regions, a third or half of the Leninsky district, the city of Troitsk. In order to receive a document or to put a stamp in the passport people have to go to Podolsk. Now we need to make sure they felt they are in Moscow . This problem is very subtle," he said.
February 13 was the last day to file applications for participation in the international competition to develop these projects. Ten more days are needed to select ten participants. The first phase of the competition begins on February 24 and will last for 60 days, the second and third stages will take similar time intervals each. Then the jury will begin working, and public hearings, an exhibition and presentations will begin.