| Moscow defended its General Plan from the feds The General Plan for the Development of Moscow until 2020, according to which the capital has been living and developing for almost ten years, has finally acquired the status of a city law - yesterday Moscow City Duma deputies approved it in the final, third reading. The Law on the General Plan, which broke all Moscow City Duma records for the length of discussion (the document was submitted to the Duma back in 1998), establishes basic requirements for development and fixes the ratio of areas in the city for various functional purposes. For example, natural areas in Moscow should occupy no less than the current 21%, and industrial areas - from 11 to 15%. The document was adopted unanimously yesterday, although some legislators did not like that, according to the regulations, they did not have the opportunity to make their own corrections to it. After all, the previous, second reading of the bill, when substantive amendments are supposed to be made, took place four years ago, in the Duma of the previous convocation.
However, the mayor’s office laid the blame for such a delay in legislative activity entirely on the federal authorities. The head of the Moscow Committee for Architecture and Urban Development, Alexander Kuzmin, explained yesterday that according to the Constitution, the basic areas of urban planning activities are under the jurisdiction of the subjects of the federation. However, all issues related to Moscow’s performance of capital functions require mandatory approval from the federal authorities. Moscow sent the relevant documents to the Russian government several years ago, but has still not received any official response. Because of this, the General Plan was in an uncertain status as an internal document of the mayor's office. When the Moscow mayor's office decided to end the uncertainty and do without any approvals at all, it was faced with sharp opposition from the feds. Commenting on the protracted negotiations with the White House, Mr. Kuzmin said that “we are not talking about full-scale military operations, but rather a showdown in a communal kitchen.” As a result, the capital’s authorities decided to bring all the issues that needed approval into one section and delay its entry into force until agreed with the federal authorities, and urgently approve the rest of the General Plan by law.
Moscow City Duma deputies refrained from speculating about the reasons for which the federal authorities are delaying the city’s adoption of the General Plan law. However, deputy Mikhail Moskvin-Tarkhanov explained that, having received the status of city law, the General Development Plan of Moscow is able to protect the capital from the destructive effects of the new Urban Planning Code of the Russian Federation. “On subjects assigned by the Constitution to the jurisdiction of the regions, federal legislation is valid only if there is no corresponding regional law. If we adopt the law on the General Plan, it will enjoy unconditional priority, and its implementation will be mandatory for all subjects of urban planning activities. If someone tries to build something in Moscow that contradicts the General Plan, then such construction will be immediately stopped by the court,” the deputy said.
True, in order to protect Moscow from spontaneous development under federal law, which the Moscow authorities are so afraid of, the law on the General Plan alone will not be enough. After all, the Urban Planning Code developed by the Ministry of Economic Development directly obliges the regions to bring their urban planning legislation into line with the federal one. Mr. Moskvin-Tarkhanov believes that this provision of the code contradicts the Basic Law of the country, and has already sent a request to the Constitutional Court. Alexander GUDKOV |
|
