As I understand it, this is timed to coincide with Sobyanin’s showy “urban forum” and the fifth anniversary of his tenure as mayor.
A major, in-depth RBC investigation: who is making money from Moscow’s reconstruction.
Read it, and you’ll stop asking silly questions like, “Why on earth are they replacing perfectly good curbs and swapping new asphalt for even newer asphalt?!”
An excellent brief summary of the investigation by Jankauskas:
- the very same streets that were already renovated over the past few years are being renovated again; - deadlines have repeatedly been missed on some of the sites; - state contracts for the work are being won by companies linked to Deputy Mayor Biryukov; - to ensure these companies win state contracts, sham firms take part in the tenders, including some registered at the same address as the winning company; - the reduction from the contract’s starting price in these tenders is usually just over 5%, which is a clear sign of collusion and damage to the city budget.
And the cherry on top: the benches, flower beds, and trash bins for this kickback-driven beautification scheme are supplied by a company affiliated with Mayor Sobyanin dating back to his time as mayor of Kogalym (a town in western Siberia).
After reading this, it’s almost laughable to see claims that the Moscow city government is fighting conflicts of interest. Using open databases, a journalist uncovers not just a conflict, but an entire family mafia.
So far, 20 billion rubles have already been poured into Sobyanin-style beautification, with another 105 billion still to come. That is an utterly fantastical sum for any federal subject (regional entity) in Russia. And it means one very simple thing: a crisis is coming, so they need to steal as much as possible while the budgets are still flush. That’s why everything Moscow has is now being thrown into this black hole of curbs, asphalt, and lawns.
http://www.rbc.ru/investigation/society/19/10/2015/561b6c739a79474587968837
Places