Moscow's City Hall has pulled the plug on a quarter of the building projects inherited from the previous administration.

As many as 300 construction contracts (out of 1,200) have been cancelled, which adds up to over seven million square meters. Their price is estimated at $35 billion.

Most of the projects dealt with construction and reconstruction in central Moscow.

It is not yet clear how the projects’ investors will be compensated. As of now, the city is returning only invested assets, unless the developer takes the matter to court.

Moscow’s government will soon launch a special website where anyone interested will be able to find the construction projects – cancelled or not. This move, officials hope, will help people to protect themselves from fraudsters.

Mayor Sergey Sobyanin is on record as saying the city center will become closed to property developers.

“Making a decision like this isn't easy,” Nikolay Pereslegin, adviser at the Moscow Cultural Heritage Department, told RT. “There are very influential people behind these projects. Due to their scope and the number of square meters involved, we're coming under huge amounts of pressure.”