Today, St. Petersburg has hosted a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman and Valentina Matviyenko, St. Petersburg’s Governor.

The meeting looked into the implementation of a Cooperation Agreement between Gazprom and St. Petersburg, addressing, in particular, the reconstruction of co-generation facilities of St. Petersburg’s Petrograd district and supplies of gas to the city’s suburbs.

A. Miller and V. Matviyenko summed up the preliminary results of Gazprom’s activities in St. Petersburg over 2005 and discussed matters in regard with the conclusion of an accord on cooperation for 2006, to be signed in December of this year.

The meeting also touched upon Gazprom’s plans to commit extra funds for the intensification of gas consumption throughout Russia, pointing, in this connection, to the need of identifying gas supply priorities in St. Petersburg.

Additionally, A. Miller and V. Matviyenko attended the presentation of two international contests for the best architectural design of the:

 - Gazprom-Arena Football Stadium and Sporting Facility;

 - Gazprom-City Business Center.

The contest presentation took place in the Marble Palace.

Both of the events are co-promoted by Gazprominvestarena, a recently established Gazprom’s subsidiary and the St. Petersburg Committee for the Urban Development and Architecture, with Gazprom acting as co-organizer and investor for each of the projects.

To be held in compliance with UNESCO’s pertinent regulations and the Guidelines for the Urban Development and Architectural Contests in St. Petersburg, the competitions are scheduled to involve the most notorious Russian and foreign architects with a track record of several successfully implemented prominent projects.

So far, the parties formed a Contest Commission that would shortly approve the membership of an Expert Council to be comprised of leading architecture and monument preservation specialists and public community representatives.

Both of the competitions will be held under identical terms.

The contest procedure is as follows. At an initial stage a preliminary list of up to 20 competitors is made up. Of those, not more than eight contenders take part in the competition resultant in the selection of two finalists. An ultimate decision is passed based on the design originality, economic viability, construction term and conformity with the cityscape.

“Today we’ve launched two sweeping architectural projects in St. Petersburg, both of which are unparalleled in the world. The projects will become major places of interest in modern St. Petersburg and will help build a qualitatively new urban milieu.

The Gazprom-Arena Football Stadium and Sporting Facility construction will represent a launching pad for the adjoining territory development and will add new colors to local recreational areas. In line with the world’s highest standards, Gazprom-Arena will become a state-of-the-art sporting ground capable of hosting prominent international sports competitions.

Gazprom-City will give a strong impetus for the St. Petersburg’s town planning development. With its grandiosity, original design and innovative materials & technologies to be applied, the complex of office space will embody Gazprom – a global energy firm setting pace in the world’s energy industry.

I am positive that St. Petersburg’s citizens will be proud of the new architectural masterpieces,” Alexey Miller stated at the presentation.

Reference:

Gazprom and St. Petersburg’s Government entered into a Cooperation Agreement in December 2003. To promote the Agreement, the parties sealed in 2005 a Pact on Cooperation.

In 2004, Gazprom provided St. Petersburg with over 10.7 bcm of gas and roughly the same amount is slated for this year.

Gas deliveries over 2005 have been paid up at 98.5 per cent.

In accordance with the Pact, Gazprom is involved in the construction and upgrading of heat & power generation facilities of St. Petersburg’s Petrograd district, including repairs or replacement of 114 boilers and 190 km of heating mains.

In 2004, the parties implemented a pilot project aimed at reconstructing two blocks in the Petrograd district, with some RUR 59 mln committed by Gazprom to construct four boilers.

This year, Gazprom channeled RUR 560 mln to upgrade thermal power facilities in the Petrograd district.

With a total of RUR 500 mln so far invested over 2005 to build gas supply infrastructure in St. Petersburg’s outskirts, Gazprom is currently engaged in the construction of local gas pipelines from the town of Zelenogorsk to the settlement of Smolyachkovo and from the Novoselki gas distribution station to the town of Sestroretsk as well as a high- and medium-pressure distribution pipeline in the town of Pavlovsk.

The Gazprom-Arena Football Stadium and Sporting Facility is planned to be constructed on the site of the Kirov Stadium being in a state of emergency and not fitting with the requirements imposed to modern sporting facilities. The new Stadium is projected to have state-of-the-art engineering systems and efficient road & transportation communications and harmoniously blend in with the Krestovsky Island’s green zone. With a 50 thousand seating capacity, the Stadium will be the venue for the UEFA Cup and Champions League matches.

Gazprom-City is expected to be a worthy exemplar of the world’s most illustrious office architecture.

St. Petersburg is a city with the historically unique urban architectural ensemble. Realizing enormous responsibility to St. Petersburg’s citizens and the international community, Gazprom does not intend to build Gazprom-City in the historic part of St. Petersburg.

The industrial zone on the border of historic and modern St. Petersburg is regarded upon as the most suitable building site for the office area. This location will allow Gazprom-City to become a link between St. Petersburg’s past, present and future and to give the city a new image.

At present, Gazprom’s projections include four building areas including the Malaya Okhta, Krestovsky Island, Admiralty Wharves and Ushakovskaya Embankment.

The outcome of the contests is fundamental for selecting general designers and contractors for the projects.