The idea of building a youth center in a park has outraged Makhachkala residents.

Makhachkala authorities have announced plans to build a Youth Center in Leninsky Komsomol Park, a development that city residents have repeatedly opposed. Journalists, activists, and ordinary residents have harshly criticized the officials' idea.

As reported by "Kavkazsky Uzel," Makhachkala residents and local activists have repeatedly protested park development. For example, in October 2022, the construction of gazebos in Leninsky Komsomol Park raised alarm among residents. They stated that cutting down trees and constructing gazebos in one of the few green spaces is unacceptable. Following this, the Makhachkala prosecutor's office revoked the permit for the construction of the gazebos.

08:10 12/19/2025

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Chernovik drew attention today to the authorities' idea of building a youth center in Lenin Komsomol Park. Earlier, on December 30, RIA Dagestan quoted Deputy Head of the Makhachkala Administration Emilia Radzhabova as saying that the mayor's office had submitted an application for participation in the federal project "Development of Youth Policy Infrastructure" as part of the presidential program "Region for the Young."

According to the official, "a unique and first-of-its-kind Youth Center may appear in the city." "The announced location is Leninsky Komsomol Park. The developed project takes into account all modern trends and the needs of the younger generation. This will be a unique venue for talented young people with separate coworking and creative spaces for work and collaboration, as well as areas for street culture and sports," Radzhabova said.

"Why the 'unique' building needs to be built in Makhachkala's Leninsky Komsomol Park, which is already overcrowded with various facilities, is not explained," according to the Chernovik publication.

Makhachkala residents told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent today that they are opposed to the attempt to develop the park and eliminate green spaces within it.

Build your projects elsewhere

"Can't we really leave the city's largest park alone? Build your projects elsewhere," "Makhachkala resident Rashid said, in particular, addressing officials in absentia.

"I often walk in this park with my children. I note that a lot of work has been done here recently: unnecessary food booths have been removed, street vendors have been eliminated. But now some permanent structure will appear. Why? Plant more trees," said Makhachkala resident Maryam.

"I think some commercial facility owned by an official will appear under the guise of a youth center," Abdullah shared his concerns.

The authors of a publication on the Telegram channel of the publication "Novoye Delo" proposed locating the park on the site of a former trolleybus depot. "We propose installing it on the site of the recently liquidated trolleybus depot. The entire remaining area should be allocated for landscaping and a modern park, which our city sorely lacks," the publication stated.

Arsen Magomedov, a member of the "Our City" movement, wrote on his Telegram channel that "neither a mosque, nor a kindergarten, nor a hospital, nor a museum, nor any other capital construction project justifies the destruction of Leninsky Komsomol Park."

"Our city lacks many things - order, electricity, justice, but most of all, we lack green public spaces. There's no need to build a youth center in the park! Officials, stop cramming your target indicators into this park! They're all anti-people if you use them to destroy the remaining green spaces in the city. Look for stolen plots of land belonging to some of your own." "Ask your fellow officials and ask them to allocate it for good causes, but leave the people's park alone," he wrote.

Blogger Rasul Asad also criticized the government's plans. "Instead of developing the city's outskirts—building various centers of attraction there so that people stay in their neighborhoods and don't go to the center for entertainment, thereby overloading it—our officials prefer to 'shove' everything into the center. They especially love to destroy squares and parks, hiding behind good intentions, and call those who oppose this all sorts of epithets," he wrote on his Telegram channel "Ask Rasul."

As a reminder, citizens' proposals to create new squares in Makhachkala are relevant because there aren't enough green spaces, activists from the "Our City" movement pointed out in March 2023. There's no longer enough space in the city for a new large park, so several mini-parks could be developed, they suggested.

Makhachkala lacks recreational parks, residents complained in February 2023, and suggested several locations where they believed parks could be established. Fifty trees have been planted in the park near Lake Ak-Gel, the mayor's office reported in April of that year.