Crazy officials

Glavgosexpertiza and St. Petersburg authorities ignored the opinion of the president and UNESCO

St. Petersburg officials refused to send a delegation to the session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Brazil, where the fate of the scandalous project for the construction of the Gazprom tower - the Okhta Center - was to be discussed. This happened the day after it was reported that the construction project had received a positive conclusion from the Glavgosekpertiza. However, the project itself does not yet exist in nature.

A message appeared on the website of OJSC "Public and Business Center "Okhta" that the Federal State Institution "Glavgosexpertiza of Russia" provided a conclusion on the results of engineering surveys for the capital construction project of the "Okhta Center" at the address: Krasnogvardeyskaya sq., 2, lit. K., thereby confirming that “on this land plot it is possible to design and build a high-rise building with a developed underground part and with a large load on the soil.” This message caused a stir in the media yesterday, which reported that the Glavgosekpertiza of Russia had approved the 400-meter project. skyscraper. However, the St. Petersburg branch of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments told the Vremya Novostey correspondent that the vague and vague information on the official website of the Okhta Center misled journalists.

In fact, according to VOOPIiK specialists, the Glavgosexpertiza of Russia only confirmed that the survey was carried out by the investor in compliance with all legal requirements and that this conclusion has nothing to do with the project, since there is no project as such yet.

Let us recall that earlier representatives of the Okhta ODC stated that when the design documentation for the construction of the Okhta Center public and business district is reviewed by Glavgosexpertiza, it will be possible to begin construction, which is planned to be completed in 2013.

As Tatyana Likhanova, a member of the presidium of the St. Petersburg branch of VOOPIiK, explained to the Vremya Novostey correspondent, the construction of a skyscraper is still very far away: “The message of the Okhta Public and Business Center OJSC speaks of a “high-rise building” and “a large load on the soil.” But they did without any numbers. What does high-rise building mean? According to the Town Planning Code of the Russian Federation, this building is 100 meters. The same thing with “heavy load on the soil”. There is no word on how big it is. The answer is contained in the message itself from the Okhta ODC. It clearly says “can be designed and built.” What kind of numbers can there be without a project?"

Although representatives of Okhta ODC constantly talk about the project in advertising the skyscraper, this is not true. Or rather, there is a manipulation of concepts. In the urban planning sphere, the design of even an ordinary building consists of volumes of drawings and calculations. Not to mention such a complex structure as the 400-meter Okhta Center. As Anna Chernova, chairman of the Okhta Arc public organization, told a Vremya Novostey correspondent, representatives of the Okhta UDC in official instances are well versed in terminology: “We are now in court. We are trying to invalidate the resolution of the city government, which allows deviations from the permissible height parameters.” Okhta Center." And at court hearings, when it comes to the project of a 400-meter skyscraper, UDC lawyers immediately protest, arguing that since there is no project yet, but only a concept, there is nothing to talk about in court."

As Alexey Kovalev, a member of the St. Petersburg legislative assembly, suggested, this is purely about money: “In my opinion, the Okhta Center is a big PR campaign that will allow interested parties to extract billions from the federal budget, and then say over the pit that they have nothing worked out for them."

If you look at what events are unfolding around a non-existent project, then the thought of a big hoax really comes to mind. After all, it even reached the president of the country. In May, Dmitry Medvedev instructed Rosokhrankultura to study the comments on the skyscraper made in March by the UNESCO mission working in St. Petersburg, and to consider “alternative height options” for the Okhta Center building. At the same time, the president urgently asked that his opinion be conveyed to the governor of the northern capital, Valentina Matvienko.

Let us remind you that the territory of the proposed construction of the Okhta Center is included in the boundaries of the World Heritage Site called “Historical Center of St. Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.” And UNESCO is closely monitoring developments around the new dominant. By the way, at the next session of the World Heritage Committee, which will be held in Brazil from July 25 to August 3, the Okhta Center will be one of the main topics. And there is intrigue.

The draft final decisions of the future session of the World Heritage Committee have been published on the UNESCO website. In one of the paragraphs of the document, the committee congratulates the Russian side on the decision to suspend work on the construction of the Okhta Center skyscraper. After which Smolny declares that the St. Petersburg delegation will not participate in the discussion of the Okhta Center at the UNESCO session.

The head of the city administration, Mikhail Oseevsky, explained the refusal of the St. Petersburg authorities to travel to the session of the World Heritage Committee: the report of the St. Petersburg side on this issue is not provided for during the voting at the session, so Smolny does not see the point in attending there.

But no one is going to stop work on the Okhta Center site. Okhta ODC told Vremya Novostey about this. No one has been able to find out where UNESCO got this wording in its draft decisions, or who gave them this information.

According to Alexey Kovalev, information has already been sent to UNESCO that work has not been stopped and that there is nothing to congratulate Russia on: “We’ll see how they perceive it. But in fact, the city authorities don’t care what UNESCO decides. The President directly expressed his doubts about such a height. But he cannot cope with the army of officials who, either for the sake of, as I already said, money alone, or in fact, for the sake of building a 400-meter skyscraper, are pushing through this project, regardless of anyone’s opinion. that all this will end with us being excluded from the UNESCO World Heritage List With or without the skyscraper.”

Let us recall that the authorities of St. Petersburg have repeatedly announced changes in the boundaries of the UNESCO protected zone. This issue will be discussed at the World Heritage Committee session next year. And now officials are discussing the draft of these changes. The essence is one large protected city center with its panoramas and prospects reduced and divided into many small security zones. They say it will be easier to protect them in this form.

Mikhail TELEKHOV, St. Petersburg