So far the strategy of joining the Asia Pacific Region and the Summit construction have been going in different directions

 VLADIVOSTOK, March 27, vladivostoktimes.com An opera and ballet house as well as a medical center won’t be built for 2012 APEC Summit in Vladivostok. Besides, the Summit budget will be reduced. Experts say that before deciding on construction objects it is necessary to figure out the strategy of joining the Asia Pacific Region. So far the strategy and the Summit construction have been going in different directions, “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” newspaper says.

“The Summit is to take place in Vladivostok. Rumors about financing cessation have been disproved,” Mayor Igor PUSHKAREV told Vladivostok residents after he came back from the meeting in Moscow. “We agreed on and approved the infrastructure objects construction plan. It included everything that had been planned before, except for an opera and ballet house and a medical center. The bridge over De-Friz is also open to question.”

What had been persistently denied by the authorities and the officials from “Rosstroy Far Eastern Administration” finally happened – the list of 36 objects planned to be built by the Summit was reduced. Points concerning the road and civil engineering infrastructure in Russkiy Island where the Summit will take place remained unchanged. The airport reconstruction and the construction of the bridge to the Russian Island are necessary. The construction of the bridge over the Golden Horn Bay will also be finished. The list of the top-priority objects includes water supply from “Pushkinskaya depression” (the groundwater source), Artyom hydroelectric complex treatment facilities and other municipal infrastructure objects. The financing of four objects (two bridges, a construction warehouse in the Russkiy Island and the treatment facilities in Artyom) has already begun.

According to the corresponding member of the Academy of Architecture and Construction Valentin ANIKEYEV, if the opera and ballet house are not built, Vladivostok won’t lose much. “The construction of the opera and ballet house in the artificial island would cost too much. We need to develop Vladivostok infrastructure, build the roads, the sewerage system and the power system objects. Only five objects are necessary to hold the Summit. It’s not necessary to build a conference hall and a five-star hotel. It can be sold in the future. Three-star hotels can become dormitories for the students of the Federal University. However, according to the expert, the failure in Airport – Noviy - De-Friz – Sedanka – Patrokl highway construction will paralyze Vladivostok during the Summit.

According to Vice Prime Minister Dmitriy KOZAK, the Summit budget will be reduced by 15 percent. The total cost will account for 140 billion rubles. This calculation seems strange because it was planned last year that Vladivostok would get about 300 billion rubles from the federal budget. Another discrepancy is that the latest inspection of the program showed that the program didn’t include power industry objects at all, and it required additional 45 billion rubles to finish the construction of Ussuriyskaya heat and power plant.

The beginning of the year was very conflicting for Primorsky Territory. Vladivostok eparchy refused to approve the project of the bridge from De-Friz Peninsula to Sedanka. Hierarchal Town Residence dating back to the beginning of XX century could have been surrounded by the traffic junction less that 100 meters away from the planned highway. Most living and utility rooms of the monastery would have been demolished. Mass media started talking about transferring the Summit from Vladivostok to Saint Petersburg, to Konstantinovskiy Palace.

According to the Head of Pacific Strategic Development Center Mikhail TERSKIY, Primorye residents have nothing to be afraid of while “APEC Summit in Vladivostok” is Vladimir Putin’s personal project. “But every object should be fought for,” the expert says. “If we follow the idea given in the early 90s by former Prime Minister Yevgeniy Primakov saying that Vladivostok is the Eastern capital of Russia, we should not only destroy dumps and slums, and arrange communications services that are four times as expensive as in Europe, but also build roads, theaters, and museums. But the federal budget doesn’t provide enough money to build the Eastern capital, we need business.

Mikhail TERSKIY believes that APEC Summit is a part of the Far East and Primorsky Territory development strategy. It is important to decide how to enter the market in the Asia Pacific Region, whether there will be an administrative center and business that will work in the new region, whether there will be a petroleum, gas and timber exchange, whether the largest international companies will open their offices. It’s the international business that should be asked whether it needs bridges, conference halls and hotels in recreational and tourist areas of the Russkiy Island.

Virtual models of future business centers can’t compensate for parks and monuments destroyed by “the construction of the century”. However, most citizens understand that they can bear this huge rebuilding. The main thing is to understand what it’s intended for. Experts say unanimously that they don’t know the content and the agenda of the Summit. “Guests from 23 countries don’t care what furniture they will see in our renovated apartment. They discussed the world energy safety problems at the summit in Saint Petersburg,” Mikhail TERSKIY reminds. “What can Russia offer to the countries of the Asia Pacific Region? Oil and gas are out of question. Krasnoyarsk is the ground for industry development. If we offer resources, we’ll make the same mistake again.” According to the expert, Russia has no strategy of joining the Asia Pacific Region; this is why the number of roads and bridges is the only value of 2012 APEC Summit.