The level of investment in St. Petersburg real estate may total USD 3.5 billion a year in the near future, according to Valery Nazarov, a deputy governor of St. Petersburg and the chairman of the city's Property Management Committee. Nazarov was speaking today in Moscow at the 'A conceptual approach to and practical management of St. Petersburg's city property' conference.

Nazarov said that investors currently bring about USD 1 billion into the city each year, and until recently the figure was as low as USD 300-800 million. The deputy governor believes that a key factor in implementing the programme to provide effective management of municipal property is the city Administration's open policy with regard to investment in real estate and land.

So-called depressed areas are receiving a new lease of life. For example, the Vyborg Embankment, where USD 50 million of investment has been attracted to repair 18 buildings. The city's single land register, which was set up recently, is also helping with the successful implementation of the property management strategy. To avoid conflicts the number of agents for acquiring city property has been reduced from 38 to 3. The head of the Property Management Committee has also put forward a proposal to privatize the city's least profitable state unitary enterprises. 'For some reason everyone thinks that the state is the most effective owner,' he said. 'But the state cannot express dissatisfaction with itself.' The deputy governor believes that it is necessary to improve the normative base and 'logicalness of management technology,' as well as developing the city's engineering infrastructure.

News source: www.rosbaltnews.com
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