6 may 2011

Prime Minister Putin holds a meeting with Volgograd Region Governor Anatoly Brovko

Participants:
The meeting covered the results of the first quarter, with a particular focus on housing construction and, above all, improved housing for WWII veterans. According to the governor, 1,111 people, or 90% of all veterans, had received new housing.

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: How was the first quarter?

Anatoly Brovko: Busy. Take industry, for example. You know that Volgograd accounts for almost one-third of the Southern Federal District’s output. The industrial production index stood at 106.6 as of the end of 2010, slightly lower than national average. We then made certain adjustments and matched the national average by the end of the first quarter.

Registered unemployment is much lower than in Russia as a whole: it's a difference of 1.88% versus slightly over 2%, respectively. We do not have any wage arrears at any operating enterprise.

We have drafted a strategic programme and submitted it to Minister Nabiullina. This is the first strategic programme based on balanced indicators. We put this programme together last year for our region and submitted it last week to the Ministry of Economic Development.  The ministry approved it. It is a resource document that organises all available areas of activity, including youth and innovation policies, financial infrastructure, and so on. We have connected all these areas, and now government officials depend on each other for results...

Vladimir Putin: Good. We’ll see. What about housing construction and construction in general?

Anatoly Brovko: We rank first in the Southern Federal District in terms of the provision of improved housing to veterans. As of today, 1,111 veterans have received new housing. That’s about 90% of the veterans who registered with the authorities after March 5, 2005. We are ahead of schedule, and we certainly do our best to fulfil your resolutions and United Russia’s prescriptions. You were here last year, on July 15, and held a meeting concerning administrative barriers. You offered some objective criticism regarding the low housing construction numbers in the Volgograd Region as compared with other Russian regions. Therefore, we planned…

Vladimir Putin: And you remember the reasons, correct? The reasons for low construction numbers included the shortage of allocated construction sites, etc.

Anatoly Brovko: We are currently changing the rules in Volgograd, and we have plans to significantly increase construction volume. This year, we’ll have 808,000 square metres as compared with 666,000 square metres last year. This year, we will also make certain provisions that will greatly improve the overall situation. Not this or next year, but in 2013. We are currently pulling together all the plots that... They allotted reserved land plots. People would buy the plots, but wouldn’t pay the lease or buy them out. The third type of land reservation, which, in my opinion, should be banned, is when a land parcel is reserved in someone’s name without any payment whatsoever...

Vladimir Putin: I get it. They stake it and wait for the market to change before they resell. Have there been any improvements?

Anatoly Brovko: We ran an inventory of all these plots. The municipal authorities take over the property titles and hold an auction shortly thereafter. This is what we are doing now in Volgograd.

Vladimir Putin: To do this work right, we need to provide affordable housing to each family. Please make a point of following through.

Anatoly Brovko: I will.