Construction of Gazprom-Center resumes in Minsk

MINSK. Sept 6 (Interfax) - Construction of the multifunctional Gazprom-Center complex in Minsk has resumed, the press service of the Minsk City Executive Committee said.

"On the last [of the long-term construction projects in Minsk], work was resumed in August. This is the multifunctional Gazprom-Center complex. Currently, there is some dismantling work going on, as defects in the design structure were identified. The construction of the frame is going to plan," the release said following a meeting at the construction site held by chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Vladimir Kukharev.

Nearly 50 people are currently working on the facility, and by the end of September another 100 will join them.

The construction of the Gazprom-Center began in 2015 on the site of Minsk's demolished Moskovsky bus station, and at 189 meters high, would become the tallest building in the Belarusian capital. The nearly $1 billion construction project was supposed to be completed in 2018, but it was frozen in December 2016. In 2018, a new general contractor, Italy's Codest International, took over the project. In 2020, work at the facility resumed, but soon stopped again.

At the beginning of June 2023, President Alexander Lukashenko issued a decree exempting Gazprom Transgaz Belarus from paying penalties for failure to meet the deadline for the construction of the Gazprom-Center. The Minsk City Executive Committee was instructed to conclude an additional agreement to add to the investment agreement with Gazprom Transgaz Belarus. In addition, the decree allowed the construction of "multifunctional premises (business apartments)" to become part of the investment project.