Nineteenth-century Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol once said his country has two problems: roads and fools. And roads, a new study claimed on Tuesday, cost many times more to build in Moscow than in US and European cities because of corruption.
Opposition figure Boris Nemtsov compiled facts and figures from open sources to shed light on the 17-year tenure of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.
“We’ll never solve the problem of traffic under Luzhkov, no matter how much money is allocated for road construction,” Nemtsov told journalists. “The exorbitant prices are directly linked to corruption and ties between road builders and authorities. Traffic jams are about corruption.”
Luzhkov, who has overseen a construction boom in the capital, has often been accused of corruption and of helping advance the business interests of his wife, Yelena Baturina. A major property developer, Baturina is ranked by Forbes as Russia’s wealthiest woman.
Luzhkov has persistently denied allegations of wrongdoing and has successfully sued many accusers for libel.
A nationwide poll last year by the Public Opinion Foundation showed that Moscow was regarded as the most corrupt city in Russia, with 42 percent of Moscow residents polled admitting they had given bribes to public officials.
The anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International ranks Russia 147th out of 180 in its global corruption index.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced a drive against corruption earlier this year — but with little visible result.
Clogged roads are a major problem in Moscow, home to at least 10 million people with another 10 million traveling into the city each day.
Road construction proceeds slowly because the price is exorbitant compared with other countries, Nemtsov said.
Construction of Moscow’s new, fourth ring road is expected to cost 7.4 billion rubles (US$237 million) per kilometer, his study showed.
Road construction in China, the US and Europe hovers between US$3 million and US$6 million per kilometer, the report said.
The average cost of road construction in Washington, for comparison, was US$6.1 million per kilometer in 2002, Washington’s transportation department said.
City hall attributed the high costs to the demolition of residential housing in areas adjacent to the new ring road. The city has budgeted 13 billion rubles for the demolition, with 25.5 billion rubles to be spent on the construction proper. This, however, still puts the cost at an exorbitant US$209 million per kilometer.
Nemtsov blamed a lack of competition.
“We should hold tenders open to all road companies from around the globe,” he said. “The lack of competition leads to price hikes.”
In the 1990s, Nemtsov served as governor of one of Russia’s largest regions and then deputy prime minister under Russia’s first post-Soviet president, Boris Yeltsin. He has since become a prominent opposition figure.
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