Moscow expansion project raises concerns
Environmentalists fear plan to alleviate Russian capital’s crippling traffic could leave thousands displaced.
Overcrowding and traffic jams are bringing parts of the Russian capital, Moscow, to a standstill.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, has set in motion a massive expansion project to meet this growing demand for space.
The plan will see Moscow expanding to the south and southwest, taking in forestland and small communities.
According to the Moscow city government website, the southern and southwestern outskirts were chosen in part because they comprise “a relatively weakly urbanised sector of the Moscow region”, counting some 250,000 people.
However, as Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker reports from Moscow, environmentalists fear the move could prove to be an environmental fiasco and leave thousands displaced.