MOSCOW, November 14 (Itar-Tass) —— Eighteen new metro stations will be built in the south and east of Moscow until the year 2015, said Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who inspected the construction of a new metro line Lermontovsky Prospekt – Zhulebino (an extension to the “purple” metro line) on Monday.

“We are launching the biggest metro construction program in the south and east of Moscow; in fact, it is almost half of the overall volume of planned metro construction - 36 kilometers, because metro stations are scarce in these areas,” the mayor said.

Deputy Mayor in charge of city construction Marat Khusnullin explained that four planned metro lines belonged to this sector: a 3.5 kilometer-long metro line running from Novogireyevo to Novokosino will be put into service in 2012. Another new metro line will connect Vykhino, one of the most crowded metro stations in the east of Moscow with a capacity of 35,000 passengers per day, with Zhulebino metro station planned to be open in September 2013.

A third metro line connecting Maryino and Zyablikovo residential areas is to be built by the end of 2011, and a forth metro line running from Brateyevo to Zyablikovo will be put into service in 2012, Khusnullin said. The overall length of new metro lines in this sector will make up 36 kilometers, including 18 new metro stations, part of the overall number of 75 new metro stations planned to be built in Moscow, Khusnullin said.

Completing the inspection, Sergei Sobyanin talked to a group of townsfolk waiting at a bus stop. The mayor wondered whether the growing construction was causing inconvenience to the population. In reply, the city residents assured the mayor that they welcomed metro construction in the city and wished it should be complete soon.

“Regrettably, such big construction projects are not implemented quickly,” the mayor said, adding he expected the nearest metro station within a walking distance to be built in two years’ time. Sobyanin played down citizens’ apprehensions that financial shortages might halt metro construction projects. “An overall volume of planned metro construction in the following five years is worth half a trillion of rubles; we need support of the federal authorities, the parliament and the Moscow Duma,” Sobyanin said. “I think we will manage to implement the planned projects,” he added.