Savinovka residents threatening to surprise the guests of Kazan with slums without gas, water and sewer
Residents of the village of Savinovka, hidden among the elite housing, have given an ultimatum to the mayor's office of Kazan
Residents of the village of Savinovka, Tatarstan, are threatening to hold an alternative fan fest for the fans of 2018 World Cup. Let the whole world know, they say, that just in two hundred metres from Chasha family centre people live in primitive conditions — for water they go to a water pump, and the houses are heated with firewood. Only twelve out of a hundred houses in the village have remained resettled. The executive committee of Kazan cannot find money for them for already 15 years. The residents consider that buliders are ready to redeem their literally 'gold' land on the right bank of the Kazanka River, but the city authorities interfere with it. Read the details in the article of Realnoe Vremya.
'Road of Life': how part of Savinovka residents were saved by the World Cup
Savinovka village is hidden behind elite high-rise buildings. Not all locals know about the existence of the private sector between the streets of Bondarenko, Chistopolskaya, Absalyamova and Sibgata Khakima, say nothing of tourists. For the residents of the huts the time stopped 50 years ago, they live in almost primitive conditions — stove heating, no running water, sewers and roads.
In the early 2000s, Savinovka numbered almost a hundred houses, most of the plots were redeemed by developers from the owners, but 17 houses remained. The fate of five of them — on the odd side of Kemerovskaya street — has been decided just recently. I must say that they had been promised to be resettled since 2005 — first by the millennium anniversary of Kazan, then by 2013 Summer Universiade, but from something in mind to something in kind the Kazan authorities have decided only by the World Cup. The need for construction of a road — it will become a place for a fan fest for thousands of football fans who will come to Chasha family centre – pushed them to the wall. Former Kemerovskaya street will be a continuation of Bondarenko street and will get a through exit to Khakima Sibgata street.
On March 7th, the last residents of Kemerovskaya street moved out from their slums, though with problems, of course. Initially, the executive committee of teh city offered 1,1 million for one hundred square metres, then reduced the price to 950,000 rubles. Everyone, except one recalcitrant neighbour, was agree to that, just to move out as soon as possible.
''After two trials they signed the agreement. Of course, money is always scarce, especially if there are many owners in the house. Each plot received 9-10 million rubles, but someone had one or two owners, and someone — seven. So they received 1,4 million each – it is impossible to buy an apartment on this money,'' told Maria Saferova, a former resident of a house on Kemerovskaya street, she has already moved into a new apartment.
''The city sells its land plots to investors for big money, but wants to build a school on our land''
Twelve houses have remained in Savinovka, its residents have been dreaming to move out since the early 2000s. But to their misfortune, theit plots are not on the territory of the future road. What is more, the last hope has been killed by the plans of the executive committee of Kazan to transfer the land under Savinovka from the category Zh-4 (the multi-storey residential building) to the zone D-2 (the zone of consumer services of the population).
''According to the General Plan, we should have a school and two kindergartens, and, of course, no investor will buy land from us, knowing that it will not be possible to build on it. This was announced to us in 2012 at public hearings. Why on the territory from Bondarenko street to Amirkhana street on the right bank of the Kazanka River there were built the residential complex Magellan, Riviera, Leroy Merlin — there are so many buildings, but the city has not built a single school or kindergarten? We are sorry that the city sells its land to investors for big money, but it wants to build schools on ours,'' outraged Ramis Sabirzyanov, a resident of a house on Nizhnyaya Torfyanaya street.
Sabirzyanov believes that in this way the mayor's office of Kazan wants to make them leave: ''Eventually we ourselves will have to agree on the terms of the city, which wants to buy land from us for a song.'' The only thing that Savinovka residents require from the municipality – not to plan on their land the construction of budgetary institutions, then there certainly will be developers ready to redeem their land. And the problem with kindergartens can be solved like they from the next house on Chistopolskaya street solved — to allocate the first floor of the house under a social object.
Foreign journalists will be invited to the houses?
The mayor's office of Kazan informed Realnoe Vremya that at present, the seizure of houses and land on Nizhnyaya Torfyanaya street and on the even side of Kemerovskaya street is not planned. As they commented, the executive committee also does not plan obstacles to developers.
Savinovka residents are giving the ultimatum to the executive committee of the city — if they are not resettled in the nearest time, they will show to the world how people in Kazan live in the 21st century.
''During the World Cup we are going to hang on the roofs of the houses banners in Russian and English, we are going to offer foreign journalists, which will live in Kazan for a month, to come and make a report about the intolerable conditions in which citizens of Kazan live,'' Rais Sabirzyanov threatened.