The Federation Council, in the framework of the proposals made by President D. Medvedev, legally secured the expansion of the territory of the capital of the Russian Federation by joining the territory of the Moscow region. Since July 1, 2012, an additional 148 thousand hectares of land have been added to the city, which immediately increased the area of Moscow by 2.4 times.
By their decision, the senators expanded the borders of Moscow and increased its population by 230 thousand people. This figure is small, since the territory of the Moscow Region, located in the south-west of the capital, was considered a depressed region, the majority of whose inhabitants worked in Moscow.
Now, in the line of the city of Moscow, in addition to lands in the south-western direction up to the border of the Kaluga region, are included Skolkovo and Rublevo-Arkhangelsk. The mayor's office of the capital has already announced that a development plan has been developed for these territories, which will mainly be used for low-rise and cottage residential construction.
In addition to residential development, it is planned to transfer the business center of the capital to these territories, freeing for public access the historical center of Moscow, which is currently almost completely occupied by various state structures. Officials are confident that the deployment of government structures in the new territories will solve the transport problem of the capital. Their confidence was not shaken even by the fact that many citizens, urban planning and public organizations, including the Public Chamber, criticized the project "Big Moscow". Many deputies of the Moscow Regional Duma also opposed expansion.
The first serious problem faced by the metropolitan authorities was the roads - the infrastructure of the Moscow region is poorly developed, in many "metropolitan" areas there were no roads at all, or their condition turned out to be very poor.
The communal flat does not meet capital standards - many villages in this area are still not provided with gas. It will also be necessary to increase the power consumption of substations. But garbage becomes an equally important problem - after all, almost the entire forest in the Moscow Region has become a solid landfill. It is hoped that the authorities have calculated their actions, and the expansion of the border of Moscow will have a real practical effect.
