Boris Vishnevsky on the decision of the Supreme Court to allow the PIK development group to demolish residential blocks of flats in the Kuntsevo District, Moscow, and build up the area again

Boris Vishnevsky’s Telegram Channel, 23.11.2018

Image: Sergei Mitrkhin, member of Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee, at a rally in Kuntsevo

“The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property,” Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels once wrote in the Manifesto of the Communist Party.

For 70 years their dreams were coming true on the Sixth Part of the World. They end and consequences of this process are well known.

Thirty years later it seemed to us that the dreams of Marx and Engels were resting in peace in the dust bin.

It seemed so until the court hearing of 22 November where the Supreme Court revived the slogan “the abolition of private property”.

The court upheld the plans of the Moscow government to allow the PIK development group to “clean up” the area with 37 apartment blocks (the building are not failing) in Kuntsevo to build tower blocks. The court ignored the protests of the local residents against the development plans.

So, the court upheld the plan to demolish the apartment blocks, built tower blocks and rehouse the local residents who do not want this. In reality, [the court] does away with the private property rights under the pretext of “integrated development of the area”.

This policy of the “integrated development of the area” can be easily introduced in any area along with its twin brother “the development of built-up areas”. These are the two “bats” that threaten the private property rights of the local residents.

About two weeks ago, on 6th November, the State Duma has passed through the first reading a draft of the federal law No 503785-7 “On the Amendments to the Town-Planning Code of the Russian Federation and Certain Legislative Acts (Including the Improvement of Legal Regulation of the Relation Concerning Urban Development Zoning and Area Planning as well as the Relation Concerning the Withdrawal of Land for the State and Municipal Needs)”,

This draconian bill to withdraw land with residential houses and give it to a developer under the pretest of “the development of built-up areas”. It is clear that both the developer and the state officials involved benefit from the scheme (If you think that they will make a decision like this without agreeing on mutual benefits, raise your hand, so that I could admire you).

In this case these are not only failing building that may be demolished. Ny the way, if the local authorities have such a wish, it does not take them a long time to put a boiling on the list of “failing apartment blocks”. However, it takes a long time for the residents to prove the officials wrong. And it is also costly.

The buildings that are subject to demolition or reconstruction may be demolished if they are put on the list of “the targeted programme”. In other words, if the officials approve of the targeted programme – the residents are told to move out. In theory they may appeal to court. However, practice shows that the courts almost always cooperate with the administration and support the withdrawal decisions.

The explanatory note to the bill is rather cynical. It says that the bill is aimed at the development of the “depressed zones” and “will have a positive impact on the development of the construction industry without introducing additional administrative barriers that may result in the extension of the construction period”. So, it means that the developer can take private property away from the resident as soon as possible, make them leave their homes, demolish those buildings and build new once on the “cleaned up” area and gain profit “without any additional barriers”. The residents of “the depressed zone” will move out…

If the residents fail to stop this plan, the robbers supported by the officials and police, will knock at their door.