MOSCOW, May 10 - RAPSI. The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has suspended until June 5 its hearing of the Kurskaya Ploshchad development company's appeal against a court judgment awarding it $30.4 million instead of $191.2 million in a lawsuit against the Moscow government.
The Moscow government and Kurskaya Ploshchad, which owns a nonresidential building near the Kursky Railway Station, signed an investment contract in December 2005.
The developer was to invest 99 percent of the costs, while the Moscow government was to invest one percent.
The parties planned to construct a three-star hotel covering 60,400 square meters and offer 320 rooms. The Moscow authorities first planned to complete the project by 2010, but later extended the deadline until 2013.
The developer sought to cancel the contract and to recover 686.2 million rubles ($23 million) as a down payment, 219.8 million rubles ($7.3 million) in interest, 4.2 billion rubles ($140.9 million) in lost profit and 675.5 million rubles ($22.6 million) in damages.
The Moscow government told the court that the claim is unlawful. The authorities maintain that the plaintiff failed to finance the project in full and did not agree the initial design plans with it.