OREANDA-NEWS. On 25 June 2008 was announced, that  the Moscow City Hall plans to increase a volume of underground construction considered by it a chief aim of the urban development by 15 per cent, from 700,000 sq m to 1 million sq m per year.

“The concept of developing the underground area approved by Moscow City Hall stipulates an increase of the volume of underground construction by 150,000 sq m per year. We are to raise this figure from 700,000 sq m up to 1 million sq m by 2010 that is about 15 per cent of the total volume of the construction,” Vladimir Resin, first deputy city mayor of Moscow, said at a grand opening of the 1st International conference aimed at using the foreign and domestic experience of underground building during the developing of the underground area of Moscow.

“Up to 80 per cent of cellarage, 70 per cent of parking spaces, 30 per cent of service enterprises can be allocated underground. The construction of underground retail and leisure centres will be enhanced year by year,” Mr Resin noted. He added that the program of developing the underground area of Moscow scheduled for 3 years to come was an investment one.

The first deputy city mayor of Moscow believes that a special attention should be paid to the construction safety. The official mentioned the necessity for training the specialists in the field of underground construction in the institutions of Moscow.

Mr Resin emphasized that the underground construction was becoming a separate direction of the urban development and had a priority social implication.