Investment projects

Over the past few years both Russian and foreign investors have expressed growing interest in Moscow. The total volume of investments in the Moscow city economy amounted to 41 billion 33 million US dollars by the beginning of January 2010. Foreigners invested a total of 200,5 million US dollars in the Russian capital’s construction sector, where the largest amount of work is being carried out.

The total volume of foreign investments in the Moscow city economy for 9 months of 2010 (not taking into account monetary authorities, commercial and savings banks, including the ruble investments recalculated in US dollars) amounted to 15 billion 823 million US dollars, that is 43.9% below the corresponding volume of the same period of the last year. For 9 months of 2010 the investments in the Moscow economy came from 125 countries-capital exporters. Luxemburg, Cyprus, the Netherlands, China and Germany became the leaders of capital attraction in the Moscow city economy for 9 months of 2010 with about 70 billion 315 million US dollars or 70, 9% share of the total volume of investments; 14 billion 410 million US dollars or 57,4% share of the total volume of direct investments.

According to the city’s general development plan, almost 90m square meters of housing are to be constructed in Moscow through 2025. Due to a consistently rising number of cars in Moscow, the Moscow Mayor considers solving the transportation problem as well as road building and development of transport infrastructure a priority for Moscow’s authorities. Moscow currently boasts 1,300 kilometers of motorways and 280 kilometers of underground lines. According to a general plan, another 2,000 motorways and 380 kilometers of underground lines are to be built by 2025.

The Moscow International Business Center Moscow City is the largest investment project in the sphere of real estate. The Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin called to the necessity to provide the site with parking facilities, roads and carriage-drives. He acknowledged the Moscow City the largest investment project in the city as of today though there is a number of problems which have to be solved in connection with its realization. Currently the complex is operating 20% of the planned volume. 840000 square meters have been put into exploitation, including 440000 square meters of offices spaces. Other facilities of the Moscow International Business Center Moscow City are currently in an active stage of construction and are expected to be launched in 2015. In order to solve the tasks on finishing construction and exploitation of the Moscow International Business Center Moscow City, the Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin signed the Decree of the Moscow City Government «On the creation of the headquarter for solving operational issues of construction and complex management over the Moscow International Business Center Moscow City» on November 16, 2010. The Headquarter is headed by the First Deputy Mayor in the Moscow City Government Vladimir Resin.

Another skyscraper is planned to be constructed on the territory of the Moscow City Center instead of the Russia Tower. According to V. Resin, two more skyscrapers are planned to be put in commission in 2011 with shopping and entertainment mall in one of them. As of today, more than 4000 people work in built office centres.

Much attention is paid to the preservation of the capital’s cultural heritage and the creation of a well-developed multifunctional tourist infrastructure in Moscow’s historical centre. The city’s radial and ring layout is a truly remarkable style of urban development in Russia and one of the world’s greatest architectural achievements. There are currently four ring roads in use in the city: Boulevard, Sadovoye, Third and the Moscow Automobile Ring Road (MKAD). Moreover, the fifth ring road is currently under construction — Moscow’s Golden Ring Road — as well as a tourist and recreational area with the same name. As part of the project, which unites more than 200 monuments of cultural heritage, massive reconstruction works are being carried out. New tourist routes are also being developed. As a result, the Russian capital will get a pedestrian zone with the Kremlin as its centre.

Among Moscow’s investment projects are the following: the project of the multifunctional high-rise complex on Profsoyuznaya street (developed within the framework of the city complex investment program «New Ring of Moscow» and is being implemented as a pilot project with attraction of leading foreign architectural-building and engineering companies in the field of high-rise construction), the project of construction of the high-rise administrative office building on Preobrazhenskaya square, the project of Zhulebino district thermal station reconstruction and reconstruction of the district thermal station-2 in Zelenograd with gas-turbine unit setting are being implemented.

The result of the necessity to develop tourist infrastructure was the construction of new hotels. Some 250 hotels are currently operating in the Russian capital, with the total number of rooms reaching 70,000. Famous international hotel chain operators have opened their hotels in Moscow in recent years: Ritz-Carlton Moscow, Swissotel Krasnye Holmy, Courtyard Marriott, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Sushchevskaya, Holiday Inn Sokolniki, Korona-Intouristo. Furthermore, such famous hotel operators as Mandarin, Four Seasons and Hilton have recently come to the Moscow market for the first time. The city is projected to see an increase in the number of hotels to 535 by 2025, and they will be located not only in the centre of the city, but also along the capital’s key roads.

Moscow is actively developing and provides extensive possibilities for beneficial investments. It also creates a stable job market and new jobs. Sustaining the city’s investment attractiveness is the Moscow City Government’s key priority.

Useful links

Integrated Informational Investment Portal.  Resource of the Moscow City Competition Policy Department
Investment Tenders  (The Moscow City Competition Policy Department)
Electronic trading  (The Moscow City Competition Policy Department)
Moscow investment activity 
Invest In Moscow.  A specialized portal of the Moscow City Government on investments in the Russian capital’s economy.