Building officials in St. Petersburg accuse Stockmann of violations
Planned department store "lacks necessary building permit"
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Russia’s new construction supervision authority has accused the Finnish retailer Stockmann of "serious violations of the law" at the construction site of a planned department store in St. Petersburg.
According to the officials, Stockmann has not acquired the necessary permits for preparatory work, or for construction, and has not submitted a building plan for inspection.
"Neither the required engineering and ground studies, nor the environmental impact assessments have been made. In addition, the company should have informed us no later than a week before the construction work began", said the deputy head of the authority, Pavel Lipski at a press conference in St. Petersburg on Thursday.
Stockmann plans to build a department store in a prime location in the centre of St. Petersburg on the Nevsky Prospekt. The store is to have 50,000 square metres of retail space, and is scheduled for completion by the end of next year. The investment is worth about EUR 120 million.
The actual construction has not yet begun. Two old buildings were torn down, and Stockmann is committed to rebuilding the facade so that it is identical with the previous one.
The supervision authority started its work in November. Its activities are limited to important construction projects, and its jurisdiction expanded at the beginning of the year after legislative changes were enacted.
"We can levy a significant fine, or suspend the company’s activities for 90 days", said Lipski on Thursday.
Stockmann insists that it has followed the stipulations of the existing permits.
"None of the claims of the supervision authority are true. They have not seen some permission slip, and they immediately claim that we do not have it", said Jussi Kuutsa, head of development at Stockmann.
Nikolai Maksimov, the head of the company that Stockmann uses as a local consultant, says that the project does not even fall under the jurisdiction of the federal authority. Instead, it is monitored by the city’s construction authorities.
Stockmann has used a construction plan approved in 1999 for the project, which was drafted by the previous owner of the property. According to Lipski, those documents no longer have any relevance.
Jussi Kuutsa does not see the accusations of the officials to be a threat to Stockmann’s investments. "We see no dramatics here. We own the property, and we have had the support of the governor."
Kuutsa suspects that the new federal authority is simply trying to make a strong impression in its early stages.
"We believe that we will achieve good cooperation with them. We will deliver the permit that they need already tomorrow."
The actual construction work on the property is scheduled to begin in late February or early March.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 2.2.2007 - TODAY |
 Building officials in St. Petersburg accuse Stockmann of violations
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