Manezh Site: Black Hole for Cash

It may be enough to topple the Kremlin and send foreign investors screaming in the opposite direction. But the gaping hole on Manezh Square still has a powerful ally in the Moscow city government, which continues to stand by its controversial brainchild despite growing rumors of structural chaos and a profound lack of funds.


Local newspapers in recent weeks have heightened criticism of the ambitious project, which is scheduled to evolve into a sprawling "underground city" by the time Moscow celebrates its 850th anniversary in 1997.


Despite speculation about potential flooding of surrounding buildings, city officials publicly have entertained no second thoughts about the Manezh site, the city's most prominent eyesore since the dig began 20 months and 480,000 cubic meters of dirt ago.


Numerous articles predicting the inevitable stoppage of the project were sparked after Viktor Osipov, a geology researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences, was quoted at a press conference as saying that the construction was not being carried out within appropriate technical guidelines, and that flooding of the Kremlin, the Hotel Moskva and the Moscow State University city center building was likely to result. Osipov declined to comment further.


"Work at Manezh Square is going ahead completely as usual," said Leonid Bibin, a city construction official heading the project, which he said received the official go-ahead from both Gosstroi and the Environment Ministry after extensive analysis of the area. "We do constant research and tests, with computers and other advanced equipment, to make sure that no flooding will occur in the Kremlin or anywhere else. The people who have been saying otherwise are completely incompetent."


The multi-storied structure, with floors both above and below ground, is to cover an area of 135,000 square meters. It is scheduled to include a massive car park, shops and office space and a museum. It is estimated that work on the flashy project, a particular favorite of image-conscious Mayor Yury Luzhkov, could amount to $1 billion.


If construction snags don't sink the underground mall, the hefty price tag may. The city has put up $15 million to finance the project -- a showy move in a city in dire need of a total overhaul of its transportation and welfare systems. The considerable remainder is expected to be provided by foreign and outside Russian investors, who are being offered shares in the "Manezh Square" joint-stock company, in which the city will hold a 25 percent stake.


Bibin declined to comment on how many financial partners had been found for the project, saying only that the investors would be announced December.


But, so far, there is little evidence of interest by outside partners. Plagued by political controversy and the unavoidable Russian trend towards drawn-out construction projects, the underground mall has little on the surface to attract serious Western investment.


"As far as I know, no foreign investor has put any money behind it at all," said a spokesman for a Moscow-based consulting firm who asked not to be named.


"If you are a property company or a retail company looking for real estate in Moscow, you're much more likely to look at the Hotel Moskva, as ugly as it is. It's got plenty of space and it's got a great location," he said. "I'd put my money there."


If the search for investors comes up empty, the underground mall could prove a disastrous decision for Luzhkov, who has made no secret of his political ambitions.


"It's an odd political move," the consulting firm official said. Comparing the mayor's support for the project to the penchant for French presidents to build monuments, the official said: "It just seems like Luzhkov's turning into Mitterrand with the Paris Opera House."