Kaliningrad - development picks up

Kaliningrad was forced to adapt in an emergency order to two major changes two decades ago. One was due to a change in social system, another - the transformation of the region in the Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea. These changes have demanded all-out efforts from the local community which stood three waves of crisis in the beginning of 1990s in connection with disintegration of the USSR, a default of 1998 and the global financial and economic crisis of 2008.

In these circumstances Kaliningrad had to increase efforts on developing the city environment, improving ecological conditions, supporting cultural traditions, creating effective social assistance system.

In the last two decades scale works on restoration and preservation of architectural and history monuments have been carried out. The former look is returned to one of the pearls of the Baltic gothic style - to the Cathedral laid in 1333. The Royal Gates were reconstructed within the framework of the 750 anniversary of the city. A central city square-the Pobedy Square is modernized. The historical and ethnographic area «Fish village», in which modern offices and hotels had been placed, was erected in the style of the North European architecture of the last centuries. A musical theater along with drama and puppet theatres were added to the list of the culture establishments operating in Kaliningrad.

Recently in the city more than 80 coal and black oil boiler-houses have been closed that contributed to the purification of the air. The works on revitalization of the city hydrological system, including over 120 km of rivers, streams and lakes, are actively conducted. Great attention is paid to modernization of the engineering infrastructure. Erection of a new collector and a complex of treatment facilities is close to completion. Constructing the second bridge across the river Pregel will allow to connect the northern and southern part of the city and to reduce number of traffic jams. A scale reconstruction of the road network is served to the same purpose. Commissioning of the Thermal Power Station-2, which use natural gas as fuel, creates conditions for reliable supply with heat and electricity. It also accelerates the closure of ineffective and environmentally harmful small boiler-houses.

Inhabitants and local authorities believe that their joint efforts will allow to transform Kaliningrad into a modern city in which the nature and a historical heritage are kept carefully.