russland-aktuell Moskau Online petersburg-info

[regina]

Hier ist sein Berich - ungekuerzt - unzensiert.
Nur uebersetzen muesst Ihr ihn Euch selber.

Gruss

Regina

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The real changes are outside the center which had its rejuvenation a while
back. Look to the skyline north or south in the suburbs and you will be
amazed at the number of new high rise apartment complexes. There is over a
1,000 large scale developments currently being built. From a vantage point
where I wait for the #55 tram each morning in the northern suburbs north of
Pionerskaya metro, I counted 27 large cranes as used for skyscrapers, one
per project. Closer to my apartment, a little further out, 20 can be seen
from my window. This is a sign of affluence to a degree, all are paid for!
The buildings are not built until all 200 or more units in each is sold and
paid for. The very cheapest goes for $650/meter and they run up to
$3,500/meter. These are built in areas with no real amenities yet, no
parks, no river views and few shops and services. Pick up one of the real
estate books which come out every week with listings for all the projects
and floor plans. It is the size of a moderate sized city phone book, about
800 pages. They also cover rentals but only 1-2 pages are available because
almost all rentals go too quickly to bother advertising.
Incomes depend entirely on the effectiveness an employee is in generating
income, which could not be easily replaced by someone else cheaper. A good
office manager can expect $1,000/month while a less experienced general
office worker might be lucky to get $400. An engineer is valued the same, if
the engineer is needed for an income producing project they can expect
European wages but most engineers are not in that position and their work is
not terribly valuable. A top administrator with appropriate experience is
going to get $3k-6k/month. A director might (depending on the value of the
business unit) get twice that. But this is not the whole story, most people
who are making business create so many side deals that their income is
really hard to predict. Business is exciting here, there is a buzz in the
air and people are eager to grab their fortune. An awful lot of people are
doing very well when not long ago only crooks did really well. I have a
shared office arrangement with a investment/trading fund and it is wild to
be in on some of the goings on. Diamonds, timber, oil, heavy equipment,
production equipment deals are made on a daily basis over handshakes and a
toast of vodka. It is all personal contacts and a good-ol boy network, in
this case a "good-ol-girl" network.
A salaried person is not going to get ahead here unless they really are
needed in generated income, but a small or medium sized business can produce
a great deal of income compared to the same overhead and start up costs in
the US. Most people are just now getting the idea of business and those who
were fast learners and adopters are way out ahead. Just like in the US,
people who can only trade commodity labor for income are just getting by.
Their home is the only asset gaining in value...same as here. The values of
their privatized apartment is pushing a lot of people into the middle class.

[regina]

Handelt es sich um eine realistische Sichtweise?

Und wie sieht es dazu im Vergleich zu Moskau aus?
Noch extremer, noch gigantischer, noch mehr Bauwerke, die gerade entstehen?

Gruss

Regina