The Russian government has slated 1.1 trillion rubles ($634 million) for construction of new stations for Moscow's metro following complaints by Mayor Yury Luzhkov about the waning of federal funds for a system that was once the pride of the nation.


Luzhkov announced the allocation at a meeting with developers of a new housing complex in Lyublinskoye Pole in southeastern Moscow. The mayor assured developers that the funds would speed up construction of a new line to serve that area, a mayoral spokesman, Yury Zagrebnoi, said Wednesday.


But Mikhail Belinky, head technician at Mosmetrostroi, the metro construction company, said the funds would not cover costs of even the first seven stations on the planned Lyublinskaya line, which will run from the city's northwest outreaches to the Lyublinskoye Pole in the southeast.


Zagrebnoi said total construction costs would run to 1.4 trillion rubles.


Belinky said the funds would be channeled first toward finishing the Altufyevskaya station at the north end of the gray line, which was scheduled to be completed last December.


He said he had not stepped up the pace of construction after Luzhkov's news, partly because Mosmetrostroi is still owed 50 billion rubles for finished work, and partly because the Finance Ministry has not released the new funds.


Luzhkov's announcement followed a complaint last month by metro director Yevgeny Dubchenko that the Russian government owed Moscow 33 billion rubles for construction and operation of public transport.