The Mayor’s office is handling the traffic problem (average speed in Moscow does not exceed 11 km/hr, London - 15 km/hr, Helsinki - 36 km/hr), as well as improvement of education and healthcare. “We lack schools with foreign language curriculums, healthcare is below European standards, the overall knowledge of English is low, as is financial awareness among people”, says Head of Economic Policy at the Moscow Mayor’s Office Marina Ogloblina. She states that major investments in the next 5 year should be channeled towards social, transport and engineering infrastructure: this is key to getting people over here to do serious business. Standard&Poor`s estimates that in order to solve all the MIFC-critical tasks, Moscow needs annual infrastructure investments of RUB 500-550bn. “Today, the planned budget falls short of that, and year-end results will be even lower”, says analyst Boris Kopeykin. Besides, the city still lacks a comfortable business climate, so capitals have slowly started migrating elsewhere.

The business community still does not grasp the full meaning of the concept that Moscow is planning to promote abroad. The financial sector is too large and complicated even for monsters like Frankfurt and London to handle all aspects at the same time. The ideologists of the Moscow IFC have yet to come up with concrete tasks. “The financial sector has to be analyzed in order to find opportunities for Moscow”, says Alexei Prazdnichnych of Strategy Partners Group. The expert cites Warsaw as an example: the city does not aim at competing against global corporations, and yet it is quite successful at working with young emerging Eastern Europe and CIS companies. Lack of priorities is holding back the vital decision on the future MIFC location. “If we are after private banking development, the site has to be in Moscow, next to five-star hotels, with key investment in private airports. If the MIFC is to host global back offices of international corporations, we need to develop Rublevo-Arkhangelskoye and the underground system”, says Gor Nakhapetyan, Managing Director at Troyka Dialog. The Rublevo-Arkhangelskoye region is outside the Moscow Ring Road and is slated to become part of Moscow. Early plans had the land designated for 2,7 sq.m of elite housing, but the concept has changed since the plot was acquired by Sberbank. The bank is ready to host MIFC and its service infrastructure. City government stress that the MIFC project is not directly linked to any given location, as it envisions building infrastructure and a comfortable environment for the city as a whole. “MIFC is a synthesis. It should not be location-bound, it’s not about building a reservation with the “Here Be Finance” sign out front”, said Andrei Sharonov at a recent public debate. However, most of the experts concur that the city needs a new business hub as a symbol of MIFC and a sample of modern business infrastructure. “Moscow needs space for visual representation of the International Financial Centre. This should be a local version of Wall Street”, concludes Vladimir Novikov of the All-Russia Insurers Union.

Project Group №5, Andrey Sharonov, Sergei Sobyanin