I. Metshin: “We do want to “crowd” passages with trade outlets, we must ensure the safety of pedestrians”

(KZN.RU, July 8, Ksenia Shvetsova). The right to place non-stationary shopping facilities in four underground pedestrian passages of the city has been implemented at the open auction in Kazan. The appearance of these objects will be consistent with a single concept. The work on the placement of objects has already been carried out in three passages. The passage to Dekabristov Street will be completed this month. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, ordered to enhance the work in the underground passages at the Business Monday today. He marked that the passages cannot be turned into shopping malls, and urged to focus on safety and pedestrian traffic.

The Committee for Consumer Market handles the issues of non-stationary trade in underground pedestrian crossings. As Ruslan Fazylyanov, the chairman of the committee, reminded that today there are 36 underground pedestrian passages in the city. Based on the safety standards, the placement of trade objects is possible in six of them: at the intersection of Yamashev and Amirkhan Prospects, on Dementiev Street, on Ershov Street, at the intersection of Dekabristov and Vosstania streets, on Pushkin Street, and near the Railway Station on Said-Galeev Street. Trade enterprises with a total cumulative area of 1700 square meters can be placed in these passages.

New approaches to the organization of trade in underground pedestrian passages are being introduced in the capital of Tatarstan since 2016. Since then, the city held auctions for the implementation of the rights to place non-stationary shopping facilities in passages. “The main goal of this work is not to generate revenues for the city’s treasury, but the need to restore order in passages”, noted R. Fazylyanov. “Before the start of the auction, shopping centers were already located in the five passages of the city. Many were located arbitrarily, and the trade was not systematized and chaotic. We received a lot of complaints from residents for the mess in the passages”.

Now, auction winners face pressing demands since the right to place commercial properties is being implemented for an extended 10-year period. First of all, they relate to the appearance of shopping facilities and cleanliness and order in passages. To this end, the Office of Architecture and Urban Planning has developed unified requirements for the appearance and design of shopping facilities in underground passages and metro stations. These requirements are taken as a single concept. “The placement of retail facilities by this concept is an integral obligation of entrepreneurs who won the auctions”, said the speaker.

To date, open auctions have implemented the right to place non-stationary shopping facilities in four passages: at the intersection of Yamashev and Amirkhan Prospects, at the intersection of Dementiev and Oleg Koshevoy streets, at Ershov Street, and at the intersection of Dekabristov and Vosstaniya streets. The total amount of contracts concluded was slightly over 64 million rubles. The entrepreneurs determine the number of trading places and types of products sold.

The work on the placement of shopping facilities by the approved concept has already been carried out in three pedestrian passages. In the passage along Dekabristov Street, it will be completed this month. Also, it is planned to hold auctions on the remaining two underground passages this year: on Pushkin Street and near the Railway Station on Said-Galeev Street.

In addition to underground pedestrian passages, the rights to place trade are used similarly at metro stations. Today, auctions for the placement of shopping facilities were held at 8 metro stations out of 11 ones. The total amount of income from the sale of these rights amounted to 327 million rubles. “The appearance of all trade objects is being unified by the approved concept”, added R. Fazylyanov.

Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, urged to accelerate the pace of work to bring the underground passages to a standard state. “I want to draw the attention of all those in charge that we don’t want to “crowd” passages with retail outlets. The main task is to ensure the safety of citizens moving from one street to another under the carriageway”, said I. Metshin. “It is convenient if people can purchase some goods in the process. But we should not turn the passages into shopping malls, where half of the pedestrian traffic is occupied by trade outlets”.

There are still many underground passages in Kazan, where unauthorized trade is conducted, noted the Mayor. He urged to enhance work to eliminate it in conjunction with law enforcement officers and the administrative and technical inspection.

“There is a difference between what it was before and what it became. But we still have a lot of work. Please complete it in the near future”, concluded Ilsur Metshin.