NOVO-OGARYOVO, August 14 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian President Vladimir Putin called on officials to present a plan to solve transport problems of expanded Moscow.
“It is necessary now to discuss problems connected with the plan for relocation of the federal bodies of authority to new territories,” Putin noted at the conference on expanding the capital’s boundaries. “We hoped that these proposals will be ready by July 9, 2012,” he said.
Putin said he would like to be given at least a generalized picture of what had been done in this area. He suggested that Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin speak of how transport problems of the megapolis will be tackled.
“People in Moscow now spend daily, on an average, 66 minutes for travel by public or personal transport. Every fifth Muscovite travels over three hours a day,” Putin said, citing statistics. “Nearly half of workplaces are concentrated within the Third Ring Road, while this area has only eight percent of the capital’s population. Ninety-two percent of Moscow’s population live in the area between the Third Ring Road and the Moscow Beltway. Another 1,300,000 people commute to the capital from the Moscow region,” he said.
Addressing Sobyanin, the president asked for proposals to resolve the transport problems. “I mean not only the construction and modernization of traffic network, which is necessary, but a more balanced development of the entire territory of the city,” the president said.