City Hall has approved a plan to turn the site of the former ZiL car manufacturing plant in southeast Moscow into a residential area with living space for 30,000 people, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
"Essentially, we are talking about making the territory, which was unavailable for the last 100 years since the establishment of one of the city's biggest industrial zones on the bend of the Moscow River, open to Muscovites," Sobyanin said Tuesday at a city government meeting.
He said the site's redevelopment could lead to the creation of 45,000 new jobs, Itar-Tass reported.
The plans will see the construction of modern communal areas, pedestrian zones, parks, sports facilities, schools, a medical clinic and day care centers for children. The authorities also plan to build about 900,000 square meters of residential space in the area.
Some of the former plant's buildings will be turned into commercial and office space, while new roads and a metro station will also be built.
Car production will continue in the area, albeit on a smaller scale and with more attention paid to "ecological responsibility," Sobyanin said.