OREANDA-NEWS.  July 31, 2013. Energy Consulting will prepare a program for the development of St. Petersburg geographical economic zones within the framework of drafting a social & economic development strategy for the City up to the year 2030. 

BALT-AUDIT-EXPERT Company, a part of the Energy Consulting Group, has been included in a consortium focused on drafting a social & economic development strategy for St. Petersburg up to the year 2030. The work is done under the Order of the Committee for Economic Policy & Strategic Planning of the City. 

Based on the tender results, the consortium combines nine enterprises. The main scope of work is assigned to LEONTYEVSKI CENTER, International Economic and Social Research Center, and to BALT-AUDIT-EXPERT. Among other companies engaged in this work are as follows: Center for Strategic Research "North-West", St. Petersburg State University of Economics, Urban Planning Research Laboratory, State Regional Center for Standardization, Metrology and Testing in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, and NOMURA Research Institute.

Leonid Ivanovski, Management Consulting Practice Director of BALT-AUDIT-EXPERT, the Energy Consulting Group, Doctor of Economics: "Our Company will work in one of the most crucial sections of the project aimed at the development of a new direction in the strategic planning of St. Petersburg - the spatial socio-economic planning".

Based on a comprehensive analysis of problems concerning the development of St. Petersburg, we will identify the major imbalances in the development of the city areas, the imbalances that prevent to streamline the sustainable growth of the city areas, and then to substantiate the selection of geographical economic zones in the areas of St. Petersburg, given the needs for the development of urban agglomeration based on a polycentric model.

We should create a quantitative vs. qualitative criteria system (economical, social, geopolitical, infrastructural, historical etc.) for the dividing St. Petersburg into geographical economic zones.

On the basis of a list of indicators we will identify the main characteristics of the selected regional zones, the main features of each area development, given the intrinsic social and economic relations between St. Petersburg and border areas. We will also identify "problem areas" in the development and the disparities that hamper the growth of individual geographical economic zones and the city as a whole, and the strategic development priorities for each territory. 

This work will result in estimated figures assessed on the baseline scenario for social & economic development of St. Petersburg, in a list of projects for housing, industrial and infrastructural development, implemented or planned for implementation in the city, as well as in plans of events for achieving the key performance indicators for each geographical economic zone.

The final phase of work is focused on creation of project design passports for the development of geographical economic zones and industrial target programs for St. Petersburg. Financing of the implementation is planned from budget recourses of the RF constituent entity, from federal budget resources, and from private funds.