UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 4, 2019. Yekaterinburg Duma voted to have the city's eighth administrative district established as District Akademicheskiy. The draft bill to this effect will now get presented to Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly.

The talk on the proposed initiative was given by First Vice Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Kovalchik, who told the deputies that Duma could consider the decree on setting up the district and vote for the draft bill on the 8th district in Yekaterinburg within a single bill package. It was agreed that the draft bill would be submitted to Legislative Assembly.

Kovalchik explained that District Akademicheskiy would result from a merger of Yekaterinburg's District Verkh-Isetsky with District Leninsky. The idea was supported by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeniy Kuivashev; the adopted 'roadmap' for the project now covers five steps altogether; the name change will take place in time for Yekaterinburg's 300-year anniversary. All the government offices will open in the new district in 2023.

According to Alexander Kovalchik, the proposed changes will help provide a unified approach to the district's development, avoid the overlap of responsibility between two district administrations, and make government services more easily accessible for all people in the area.

A calculation of the potential cost of changing geographical names made it clear that no budget funds would be needed for the purpose.

'Everyone is used to the name Akademicheskiy now,' Kovalchik said.

The deputies supported both initiatives and the draft bill will thus get forwarded to Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly.