[Gamma-Hamster]

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120831/175548210.html

Gazprom to Begin St. Petersburg Skyscraper in October

23:04 31/08/2012

Construction of Gazprom’s 463-meter tall Lakhta Center complex in St. Petersburg will begin in October, the head of the Gazprom subsidiary in charge of the project said.

Gazprom received permission from the city to build the skyscraper complex on the shore of the Gulf of Finland earlier in August.

The site is nine kilometers from the city center. An earlier proposal to build in downtown St. Petersburg, at Okhta Cape, had to be scrapped in the face of stiff public opposition.

“Construction will proceed in phases,” said Alexander Bobkov, the head of ZAO Okhta Public and Business Center, which is overseeing construction of the complex.

“The tower itself will take the longest to build. I think we will break ground in October, since there are no legal or technical issues,” Bobkov said.

The 334,000-square meter complex will serve as the headquarters for Gazprom’s oil arm, Gazprom Neft, and other Gazprom subsidiaries.

Construction is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2018.