Visit to the National Exhibition Centre

An improvement project will be launched at the National Exhibition Centre (VVTS) this summer. There are plans to resurface the roads and to streamline vehicle traffic, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin noted during his visit to the exhibition centre. Moscow Government Minister and Head of the Moscow Department of Culture Sergey Kapkov noted that city residents would see the results by August.

Mr Sobyanin noted that the exhibition centre was now becoming city property, and that all its facilities would subsequently be transferred to the Department of Culture. “The exhibition centre has become a large, and not the best, city market,” the Mayor said. He said it was possible to have more civilised retail outlets at the Centre, and that all illegal facilities would either be removed or transferred to city ownership. Deputy Moscow Mayor for Economic Policy and Property and Land Relations Natalya Sergunina said the city now completely owned the shareholding company that manages the exhibition centre. The legal status of the new management company remains to be clarified.

“It would probably be right to rename the National Exhibition Centre VDNKh (All-Union Exhibition of Economic Achievement), as it was called before,” Mr Sobyanin told journalists. Mr Kapkov added that the city intended to establish a park highlighting Russia’s successes in various industries. Moscow’s Chief Architect and First Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Architecture Committee Sergey Kuznetsov noted that a concept for the park had not been drafted yet. “No one will tear down any existing cultural landmarks, and we will not build any huge new facilities here,” Ms Sergunina stressed. Currently, the VVTS has 46 cultural landmarks.

According to Mr Kapkov, the VVTS and the Ostankino park complex, due to be refurbished in July, will probably be merged. For this purpose, a special project will be developed in cooperation with the Russian Academy of Sciences.