Military issue of Saint Petersburg port
Number of Defense Ministry divisions located at the territory of Saint Petersburg has decreased significantly in recent 10-15 years. Thus, many of former military objects have been neglected and are not being used today. The issue of plots of land and structures once owned by the Defense Ministry was discussed at the meeting of the Marine Council under Saint Petersburg Government. In particular, the city's proposal is to use military property for the port development.
Beyond the bounds
Determination of legal boundaries entered its active phase from the moment when Big Port of Saint Petersburg received its official name under decree of RF Government dated September 25, 2006. According to Petr Parinov, head of Saint Petersburg Seaport Administration, the most important thing today is to coordinate the decision on the boundaries with the Defense ministry of RF. A number of Kronshtadt berths used for commercial shipping are under jurisdiction of Leningrad Naval Base. Parinov thinks this issue my be settled faster if Valentina Matvienko, Saint Petersburg Governor, applies to Sergei Ivanov, Defense Minister of RF.
Today, a number of military facilities located in the port are used for civil purposes. It is a canal of Gorskaya base, harbor of Litke base (Kotlin island) with two canals, part of water area of Lomonosov harbor and boat canal. Besides, seven pontoons and an anchor system located at the embankment of lieutenant Shmidt as well as six pontoons at Anglijskaya embankment (Neva river) are also used for civil purposes. As early as in April 2003 the Defense Ministry planned to transfer all these facilities to the Transport Ministry of. However, the transition procedure has not been finalized yet mostly because there is no instrument to finance maintenance of floating and fixed navigation equipment placed at canals and waterways subject to be handed over. Thus, no delivery certificate has been executed on the above military property and consequently, no documents were furnished to the Property Ministry for approval, Parinov told.
Work for layers
Russian Government is authorized to determine the procedure for transfer, rent, sale and liquidation of military equipment, defense facilities and other military property according to federal law On Defense (clause 22 of FL No61 dated 31.05.1996). Thus, the above berths may be included into the boundaries of the Big Port of Saint Petersburg on the grounds of a special decision of the Government to hand them over to economic management of Rosmorrechflot (Russia’s Federal Agency of Sea and River Transport) of Rosmorport FSUE. As for other objects of Leningrad Naval Base located within the limits of the port, they may be regulated by other legal procedures, Parinov thinks.
As Andrei Karpov, chairman of the Committee on Transport and Transit Policy of Saint Petersburg, told at the meeting of Marine Council, a number of berths located in Lomonosov have been proposed to be included into the limits of the port. Besides, in 2003 Ministry of Transport received Northern Kronshtadt waterway and Kronshtadt ship waterway.
Valentina Matvienko, Saint Petersburg Governor, told the Council the city is concerned about military objects. As of today, many of them are not being used. No inventory has been carried out and they have no specified boundaries or cadastral number. It entails a number of legal problems. “The issue of military property is not easy to solve though it does not mean we are not able to solve it,” Matvienko said. The Governor proposed that an expert legal group be formed in order to develop legal base and to speed up the work on the issue.