Press Release, 23.12.2019

Tomorrow the Commission of the Moscow City Duma on Urban Economy and Housing Policies will consider the bill of deputy Sergei Mitrokhin on amendments to the law “On provision of urban amenities in Moscow”.

The amendments oblige the Moscow government to coordinate with Muscovites improvement projects for courtyards, streets and squares.

“An absurd situation has emerged,” Sergei Mitrokhin says, “when improvement projects are coordinated with a huge number of departments and other authorities, but not with the end-user for these services, that is, the residents themselves. And this gives rise to a huge number of conflicts and, in general, dissatisfaction with measures to improve the city.”

It is proposed to formalize the coordination mechanism by a special decree of the Moscow government.

Mitrokhin also expects that this amendment will be approved not only by the commission, but also by the majority of Moscow City Duma deputies.

Tomorrow, the commission will also consider the bill of Yelena Rusakova, Yabloko’s head of the Gagarinsky Moscow municipal district, on restricting the use of reagents helping to dissolve snow near residential buildings in Moscow. The document, providing for amendments to the law “On provision of urban amenities in Moscow”, was adopted by the Council of Deputies of the municipal district in February 2019.

“We used our right to legislative initiative, drafted and sent the bill to the Moscow City Duma, which contains radical requirements to ban the use of reagents near residential buildings. Thus, we want to draw attention to this topic, to the fact that the use of reagents should be regulated,” Rusakova says.

She emphasises that she will insist on launching a discussion on this topic between the lawmakers with participation of experts.

Earlier, municipal deputies from Yabloko submitted to the Moscow City Duma a bill restricting the use of reagents in Moscow, but deputies of the previous convocation did not support it.