President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday reviewed a plan that would more than double the size of the capital and establish an international financial district west of the current city limits.
Medvedev ordered Moscow's mayor and the governor of the Moscow region to draft the plan aimed at reducing traffic jams and turning the city into an international financial center at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last month.
Medvedev, who also wants to move federal government agencies out of the city center, gave the two officials until July 10 to deliver a proposal.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told reporters Monday that their proposal would see Moscow grow to cover 251,000 hectares, up 2.4 times from its current 107,000 hectares.
The expansion would scoop up large swathes of the Moscow region, mainly in areas to the west, southwest and south of the city.
"The place in question is a large strip of land from Varshavskoye Shosse to Kievskoye Shosse and to the railway ring line in the southwest," Sobyanin said after meeting with Medvedev and Moscow region Governor Boris Gromov at the president's Gorki residence outside Moscow, Interfax reported.
Gromov said an international financial center might be set up in the Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye district west of Moscow. "An initial proposal was made to move in that direction," he told reporters.
Sobyanin stressed that the plans were preliminary and no financial figures were available. He also said it remained unclear where government agencies might be relocated to.
The proposal also envisages a metro station being opened at the Skolkovo innovation center, the Red Line being extended from the Yugo-Zapadnaya station to the Troparyovo and Rumyantsevo districts and the Gray Line to the Yuzhnoye Butovo district, Interfax said, citing a statement from the Moscow and Moscow regional administrations.
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