The second statement is a lie. In most countries in Europe, that would take a few months, too. In most countries, you need an approval by the local authorities, and that implies getting that through the city hall, which in turn must have a quorum that will vote favourably. And they will not assemble and vote just like that.
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If you'd read what I'd written then you had have seen that I mentioned that planning permission was initally necessary, via 'City Hall' as you call it. What I'm talking about is during the engineering of the building, long after the planning permission has been granted.

In how many countries have you seen a complete revamp of a few hundred metres of a major thoroughfare with tram lines (sic!) that is exposed to extreme climatic conditions done in one month or so?
It's called Project Planning - an alien concept here, unfortunately - by the way, the local guys in the office here tell me this road has actually been closed for years for these works !! And since when has St Petersburg had 'extreme climatic conditions', by any standard ? It's not in Siberia.

Don't understand the (sic) here - what do you call them in Russia or wherever if not tram lines ???

And I need someone from the States to comment on this, but wasn't several miles of the Santa Monica freeway totally rebuilt in only a few months after an earthquake around 10 years or so ago ? Now that's what I'd call a 'major thoroughfare'.