Officials on Tuesday adopted an ambitious building program for this year that will see the Moscow city government demolish a total of 139 apartment buildings to make way for new construction projects.

"There is a question that demands to be solved: There is not so much land remaining for construction," Mayor Yury Luzhkov told Tuesday's city government meeting.

"Five-story buildings do not add any beauty to the city's architecture," he said.

Under the 2007 city development program, City Hall is going to tear down 139 apartment buildings in the north, west and southwest of Moscow, First Deputy Mayor Vladimir Resin said in a report to the meeting.

This year's building program will see 4.8 million square meters of new residential developments, including 2.1 million square meters intended for public welfare needs.

These include apartments for people evicted from apartments earmarked for demolition, people registered on the city's housing waiting list, and young families, City Hall said in a statement.

In line with President Vladimir Putin's order to provide housing for military officers, City Hall is to provide 4,000 new apartments for the Defense Ministry.

As part of its public housing program, City Hall will complete the construction of a medical center for Moscow State University and work on refurbishing the Sklifosovsky health clinic. It will also open 100 new kindergartens, 20 high schools and four primary schools.