St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko asked the Federation Council to change the boundary of Russia’s second-largest city, expanding it into the Gulf of Finland, a member of the assembly said Monday.

“For the first time, the area in question is a water zone, though still within Russia’s territory,” said Rafgat Altynbayev, head of the council’s committee on regional policy, Interfax reported.

The project will use 350 hectares to 400 hectares for housing construction as well as “recultivation of the shore,” Altynbayev said.

Residential buildings will be built on the new land and the project will “create thousands of jobs,” Altynbayev said.

He was not available Monday to specify exactly where the project will be.

St. Petersburg is planning to create two artificial islands next to the shore in the Sestroretsky district. The territory on the shore, 144 hectares in all, was sold for 36 million rubles ($1.2 million) last month to a subsidiary of Novatek.

The city has been developing a similar project called Sea Facade on Vasilyevsky Island to expand land area for a future port as well as office and residential developments. About 170 hectares out of a planned 400 have already been created, and a government decree was signed in late 2005 to transfer the area to the city.

A decision regarding the boundary change will be made within the next 10 days, Altynbayev said.