Kazan Executive Committee to auction off 40 more historic buildings

(KZN.RU, September 22, by Ekaterina Andreeva). The Executive Committee of Kazan is preparing a package of preferences for investors willing to buy and renovate cultural heritage sites of the city. This was announced today at the 7th session of Kazan City Duma by deputy head of Kazan Executive Committee Rustam Nigmatullin.

Today, according to him, Kazan municipality owns 178 historic monuments. Of these, 48 are in joint municipal-private ownership, 44 are owned by municipal institutions and enterprises, 23 are residential buildings, 27 are in free use, 21 objects are out of use and 15 are either unfit for human occupancy or have been destroyed.

Some 4.5 billion rubles are needed for their restoration, which is equivalent to one half of last year's revenue of the city treasury .

To date, 36 objects have been privatized, and 21 of them have been restored. "This amounts to 58% of the total and shows the effectiveness of this work," said Nigmatullin.

As of today, according to R. Nigmatullin, finding investors and transferring buildings to them has become systemic. Thus, on September 6, three items were again put up for sale at a lower price (auction due October 7), and a further nine items were offered for sale September 16 (auction scheduled for October 21). By February 1, 2012, 40 objects are expected to be sold.

"We in the City Duma expect from the Executive Committee clear, transparent, systematic measures related to our historic heritage," said Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin. "The President and the Government of the Republic are ready to assist us in this matter."

Ilsur Metshin also instructed the Executive Committee to find a final solution concerning the fate of property and land in the historic part of Kazan.