Russia’s newly elected president Dmitriy Medvedev conducted a meeting of the Russian Federation President Top Priority National Projects and Demographics Council, partly in order to discuss the multi-faceted area development project known as the Sun Valley that is currently being implemented by RENOVA Stroy Group in Chelyabinsk Region. The meeting was attended by Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin.

‘The major way of implementing the Affordable and Comfortable Housing to Russian Citizens national project in Chelyabinsk Region is multi-faceted development of cities and smaller settlements. This is a totally new approach to urbanization that is bound to change the country’s look completely in the future,’ the Governor said.

The Sun Valley project could serve as a good example of this. According to Mr. Sumin, the project was first presented by RENOVA Stroy Group in Cannes this March. The project provides for a satellite town with plenty of housing as well as office blocks, production areas, and social infrastructure. The project requires some $8bn worth of investments, and over 3 million square meters of housing will be put up within a sixteen-year period.

All in all, 2.902 million square meters of housing have been put up in the region over the last two years, with another 2 million to be constructed in 2009. At the same time, the construction process is somewhat hindered by the legal flaws; a need for some amendments to the federal bills that could help settle the commons conflicts is keenly felt.