MK: Moscow authorities abandoned paving slabs

The Moscow authorities refused to replace the asphalt coverage of city sidewalks with tiles. As the Moscow Komsomolets writes, all the work planned for 2012 has been canceled. The city hall sent the saved funds in the amount of 350 million rubles to improvement, in particular, for the repair of roads and sidewalks. The replacement of asphalt with paving slabs began in Moscow on the initiative of Sergei Sobyanin, who stated that asphalt has an unpresentable appearance and does not affect the city’s ecology.

First, the Moscow government was going to cover 1.13 million square meters with a tile, spending about 4 billion rubles for these purposes. However, due to complaints of citizens dissatisfied with the quality of work and a waste of budget funds, the tile program was reduced. In total, in 2011, 400 thousand square meters of tiles per billion rubles were laid. Nevertheless, last fall, the Department of Housing and Communal Services announced his intentions to continue work. In 2012, it was planned to replace 237 thousand square meters of asphalt in the center of Moscow. Officials asked for about 900 million rubles from the budget.

In March, announcements appeared on the public procurement website about 14 auctions totaling 350 million rubles. They provided for the laying of tiles on Sadovaya-Spasskaya, Yauz streets and Yauzsky Gate Square, on Okhotnoye Street, Theater Square and in the theater passage, on Myasnitskaya Street, on Lubyanskaya Square, Kremlin embankment and Solyanka Street. Also, asphalt should have been replaced on Sretenka Street, Kudrinskaya Square, Smolensk-Housing Square, Novinsky Boulevard, Smolensk and Taganskaya Squares, on the streets of Sadovaya Bolshaya and Sadovaya-Triumphalnaya, on Sukharevskaya large and small squares, as well as on Samotsky Street. In total, according to the competition documentation, by August 25, 102 square meters of coatings were planned to be updated in the historical part of the city. However, work has not yet begun on any of the streets. Even next to the mayor on Tverskaya, they put ordinary new asphalt, not tiles.

According to the tender committee, at first the bidding for laying the tiles were transferred, and then completely canceled the state customer. "The lots were not played in connection with the redistribution of funds under the articles of budget financing in 2012," said the representative of the department. A source in the city administration says that the decision was made under pressure from public opinion so as not to spoil the image of the city authorities and personally Sergey Sobyanin. "