During his working trip to St Petersburg, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Pushkinsky District, where two new residential projects for military servicemen have been developed in the Slavyanka neighborhood. The two developments offer 320,000 sq m of new residential property connected to water and electricity utilities, as well as over 20 playgrounds for children and 1,500 young trees. A state commission approved the completed project on November 18, a spokesman for the developer said.

Mr Putin emphasised that the plan was to build 90,000 flats for military servicemen in the past two years. The plan was exceeded, he said, as nearly 7,000 more flats were built. "Under the plan, we must commission another 77,500 homes for servicemen until 2013. We'll meet the deadline if we continue at this pace," the prime minister said.

St Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko, who accompanied Mr Putin, said the property was sold for 44,000 roubles per square metre. She added that the two projects had been developed from the ground up in one year, including 17 km of water pipelines and other utility infrastructure.

Mr Putin looked at two flats in a five-floor building and a three-floor property that will house an out-patient healthcare service. He said the playgrounds were nice and inquired about kindergartens and other social services in the area. His escort assured the prime minister that two kindergartens, a school and two shopping centres will open by September 1.

The builders used new materials and technologies, including prefabricated panels, cast-in-place concrete as well as mixed construction technologies. This has significantly cut the time of construction, to 800 sq m per day, the developer's spokesperson said.