Inspectorate revises plan to demolish Moscow Houses swiftly

The State Territorial Planning and Construction Inspectorate is reviewing how to demolish the unfinished Moscow Houses building in Vilnius as quickly and economically as possible, LRT reported.

The decision follows a warning from the prosecutor’s office that the inspectorate must urgently implement a court ruling ordering the building’s demolition. The prosecutor’s office also raised concerns about a proposed settlement agreement.

“The inspectorate’s position remains unchanged: the court ruling must be implemented and the illegally constructed building must be demolished,” inspectorate chief Albertas Stanislovaitis said in a statement.

He said the inspectorate had been seeking legal solutions that would allow the demolition to be carried out efficiently and, if possible, without using state budget funds. After assessing the changed legal circumstances and the prosecutor’s comments, the inspectorate will review its implementation model and decide on further action.

Inspectorate spokeswoman Viktorija Šinkūnienė told BNS that the comments would be discussed on Monday with the Vilnius municipality and the insolvency administrator, Šatrijos biuras. The inspectorate will not appeal the prosecutor’s warning to court.

Šinkūnienė said the draft settlement would also be reviewed because of the prosecutor’s concerns. She added that court rulings stating that the Moscow Houses cannot be transferred to the Vilnius municipality were relevant to the agreement.

The settlement must comply with the law and not conflict with the public interest, she said.

The Vilnius mayor asked authorities to defend the public interest in implementing the court ruling after the inspectorate failed late last year to select a winner in a tender for the demolition works.

The Lithuanian Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that creditors of the liquidated public institution Moscow Cultural and Business Centre Moscow Houses, which manages the building, cannot write it off and transfer it to the city municipality. The court said an illegally constructed building cannot be sold or otherwise transferred to Vilnius authorities.

The Environment Ministry has initiated negotiations on a settlement under which responsibility for the demolition would be transferred from the inspectorate to another party. This could be a company willing to carry out the work using its own or other private funds, while the municipality has also been mentioned as a possible party responsible for the demolition.

The settlement would need to be approved by a court. The Vilnius mayor has previously said an agreement could be reached in autumn.