O’kay faces Murmansk protests

Andrei Musatov, Anatoli Tyemkin

Vedomosti

Published: November 8, 2005 (Issue # 1120)

The fate of a proposed O’kay supermarket in Murmansk is in the balance after protests from ecologists. Dorinda Holding, the founder and developer of the St.Petersburg-based chain is facing opposition from an organisation campaigning for a park in its place.

Dorinda won a tender for developing a vacant lot in the center of Murmansk in 2003 and at the beginning of this year was given permission by the city authorities to begin exploration works.

According to a Dorinda source the company planned to build a multi-functional center with the 40,000 square meter space, a third of which will be occupied by O’kay, with the remaining area set aside for an entertainment center and aqua-park.

Such plans faced opposition, however, from the ecological organisations “Gaia,” and the Murmansk branch of the All-Russian Society of Nature Conservation. spoke out against the project. They believe a park should be laid out on the vacant lot instead of a supermarket.

An official from the city’s administration said that the groups have organized protest meetings, demanding an appraisal for an alternative project.

This summer ecologists tried to contest the company’s actions through the courts, on the grounds of a violation of public rights to information about the project, but the court did not uphold the claims, the Dorinda source confirmed.

“Legally there is nothing to stop us from continuing work, but we are facing a strong public reaction,” a source told Vedomosti. According to him, this is connected to opposition from local retail market figures within the company. “We have suspicions that there is some kind of commitment on the part of the protesting ecologists,” he said.

The representatives of ecological organisations were unavailable for comment, but, according to an official in the Murmansk administration, a public hearing held on October 8 recommended that Dorinda be given permission to build the supermarket.

Nevertheless, the official affirmed that up until now the mayor of Murmansk, Mikhail Savchenko has not made a final decision.

The public, meanwhile, are demanding a referendum. The chairman of the town electoral committee, Vladimir Shulaev, said that on September 30 a request for a referendum concerning the development was submitted by a group but was turned down. Citizens handed in the request again on October 17, Shulaev said, and it is going to be examined next week.

Although public opinion is generally taken into account during the working out of investment conditions for a project, discontent with this project is unlikely to become a reason for closing it down, said a partner in the law firm Baker and McKenzie, Maxim Kalinin.

Nevertheless, appeal through a referendum is still a theoretical possibility the lawyer said.