Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Esteemed colleagues! I would like to return to the issue of equipping the Chita-Khabarovsk highway. As you may recall, we have discussed it on many occasions, and we must see it through.

As you may recall, we talked first about updating and renovating particular sections of the highway. Second, we discussed the construction of exit and entrance ramps and, third, access to emergency medical care, especially after car accidents. That means selecting medical centres along the highway that will provide care, ensuring access to these centres and providing them with the necessary transport. We also agreed to pay special attention to organising traffic and safety on the highway proper. Lastly, let’s think (regional heads should be doing this, first and foremost) about creating the necessary infrastructure for drivers they use now and will use in the future – here we mean cafes along the road and all related things.

And finally, we have always paid special attention to communications. To drive along a highway for hundreds of kilometres without access to a phone to call the highway patrol, police, hospitals, and so on – this is a rather dangerous and risky undertaking. Two billion roubles have been allocated from the federal budget for communication purposes; the same amount was allocated by telecommunication providers. If I am not mistaken, the ministry has promised to complete the process by October 15, 2011. Let’s begin with that. In addition to equipping the highway, telecommunication service had to be provided to 100 villages along the road, to 100 communities. What is the progress on that? Please.

Igor Shchegolev: In your instructions, you’ve set us the task of providing the highway with a telecommunications infrastructure as soon as possible. I drove along this highway earlier this month, covering some 700 km across the territory of three regions. Drawing on that first-hand experience, I can confirm that the network is, indeed, operational and that the quality of telecommunications here is even better than on some of Russia’s western highways, such as the one linking Moscow and St Petersburg. There were hardly any disruptions.

More than 100 new towers have been built here, from 70 to 100 metres in height, and some 100 access roads have been made; the electricity transmission network has been expanded to cover an additional 500 kilometres. Regional heads have supported us by considering all relevant documents without delay, so we could complete all the projects before the end of the current construction season.

Of the 100 projects, 94 have already been launched; two will become operational by this weekend and the remaining four will begin operations next week. The industry wasn’t entirely ready to work on such a tight schedule, so we had to change suppliers along the way. There are places (I saw them with my own eyes) where, to be able to install a rig some 200 metres away from the highway, workers would have had to lay a 3.5 km access road, drilling through rock.

Sergei Ivanov: Through a hill.

Igor Shchegolev: Right, through a hill. This is why we had to make some minor changes in our schedule. Anyway, the work will be completed in October. As early as next week, actually. Electricity personnel will arrive later on, in the first quarter of next year, as they have a rather large amount of work to do. Until fixed power supply becomes available, diesel generators will be used. These will be employed jointly by telecommunications and electricity providers. Generally speaking, this was an example of private-public partnership where the parties shared expenses and organisational efforts and where we were able to save some money on capital investment thanks to the construction of a common telecommunications mainline.   

Unlike many other places in this country, we have one rig instead of three, one container instead of three, one diesel generator on standby instead of three… This has been, indeed, a one-off example of cooperation between three major providers, and they all have valued the experience. We believe this model could be used nationwide to create telecommunications networks for federal highways as well as for distant regions, where it would be inexpedient for an individual company to build on its own.

Even in this project, with the volume of shipping on the rise, the participants won’t be able to recoup their capital costs overnight.  With this in mind, we have a number of proposals to make, including on how to best complement this model so that in the future we could use it elsewhere to cover other highways and distant townships and villages.

We believe the project has proved its worth. It has been implemented within an unusually short period of time, and, more importantly, we’ve developed mechanisms that are applicable elsewhere.

Vladimir Putin: Are nearby townships covered by the network?

Igor Shchegolev: There are about a hundred townships in the area, and 50 of them have been provided with telecommunications lines for the first time ever. They still have no landlines, but now they can finally use mobile phones to communicate. But some of the localities out there, paradoxically, have no fixed power supply.

Driving along the new highway has now become a much more pleasant experience in terms of comfort, obviously. We’ve discussed this with governors and they agree this is the case.

Our next task will be to extend the power transmission lines to service stations, filling stations and medical stations that are going to emerge along the road and to provide them with public telephones and information machines so that a whole range of services is available there to ensure comfortable travelling. 

At the same time, we built a digital television infrastructure and launched it almost simultaneously with the telecommunications infrastructure. The task has been carried out.

Vladimir Putin: Good.

Sergei Ivanov: I can confirm this. Last week, when the minister was driving along the highway, I spoke to him on a mobile phone from Moscow and I could hear for myself that the priority task you had set a year ago in Chita, when driving along this very motorway, was successfully carried out. The main thing, in my view, is that the telecommunications infrastructure makes it possible for us to provide a basic level of road safety. It’s also significant that the 150,000 residents living along the 2,000-kilometre long highway have now received access to mobile phone communications, most of them for the first time in their lives.

Vladimir Putin: Excellent. Mr Levitin, please go ahead.

Igor Levitin: Mr Putin, esteemed colleagues. I would like to remind you that the total length of the motorway is 2,136 kilometres, of which 1,616 kilometres meet the applicable standards, and 520 kilometres were built more than 30 years ago. In line with your instructions, we prepared a reconstruction schedule for the sections …

Vladimir Putin: The one that stretches from Khabarovsk, right?

Igor Levitin: Yes, the one that starts at Khabarovsk and the one…

Sergei Ivanov: And the Chita section.

Igor Levitin: We have budgeted funds up to 2014, with the biggest spending planned for 2012 and 2013. The earmarked money is already available. The repair works have already commenced. We will install an additional 2,000 road signs and 200 kilometres of guardrails. Also, underground pedestrian crossings will be provided at the communities agreed with the governor. For a start, there will be 13 sections of street lighting. We will do all this together with the regions. In addition, I would like to say that approach roads must be built for this motorway together with the regions. Currently, there are virtually no approach roads to towns and villages there. We have the necessary funds, but these are all regional roads. It would be good if we discussed these issues today. Also, when you drove along the motorway, you instructed us to find jobs for the workers that built the road, and they have all been transferred… Some of the workforce has remained on this motorway to make repairs, others are now constructing the road to Yakutsk (Lena) and the stretch between Khabarovsk and Vladivostok. By transferring them over there we can complete the bypass road around Ussuriisk near Vladivostok one year ahead of schedule. This is a good project and we will finish it, which means we will retain the jobs for the people of our Far East.

I would also like to mention that there was a car run from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad. I had a meeting with the organisation Dead Pskov Roads, who gave their opinion of the motorway in detail. We are now preparing a plan for this road – the Federal Road Agency and this organisation. They told us that the Chita-Khabarovsk motorway has a 40-kilometre section (a part of that 520 kilometres) which needs prompt repair. We had a look: they had done an excellent job, they drove into towns and inspected all the road service facilities.

I would like to say that we have received some information from them and are now studying it.

I would also like to say a few words about road service facilities. We have a general layout already and, now that communication is established, can more accurately select appropriate locations for all these facilities. Naturally, we will need help from the regions. As far as electrical power is concerned, we will be in touch with Igor Sechin and the Energy Ministry. They offer low rates for electricity at night, and we want the tariffs for road workers to be within the funds we have allocated for them. On the whole, I want to say that we have fulfilled the instructions you issued in Chita.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. Let’s move on to healthcare. Mr Topilin, go ahead.

Maxim Topilin (Deputy Healthcare and Social Development Minister): Mr Putin, following your instructions, we concluded some preliminary agreements at the end of 2010 in order to prepare the launch of a national project dealing with road traffic injuries – this was done last November and December. And after you signed government resolutions on May 23 and June 8, the ministry and the regions entered into their own agreements, and by July 1, the regions were expected to report on their readiness to participate in this national project. For the purposes of monitoring, experts were sent around the country to check on the degree of readiness, and on August 9 we issued subsidies to two regions: the Khabarovsk Territory received 45 million roubles, and the Amur Region 380 million roubles.

By August 9, these regions were prepared to launch the project – they had all the regulatory documents, had reasonable logistics, and were assigned responsibilities for the health facilities included in their competence areas. Since all administrative documents were already in place, work began on August 9. The Ministry has not yet issued subsidies to other two regions – the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Jewish Autonomous Region – because, we believe, they had failed to submit duly completed reports. We have just discussed the matter with representatives from the Trans-Baikal Territory: they promise to send in their report as soon as possible. As for preparing our facilities for the provision of medical aid: all in all, we have 27 of them, including five first-level emergency stations and six second-level emergency stations.

Vladimir Putin: There will be 27 medical facilities along the motorway?

Maxim Topilin: Yes, there will be a total of 27 medical facilities of all levels to provide emergency care along the motorway. Our primary objective was to space them at 100- to 150-kilometre intervals, but most of the work will obviously be handled by first- and second-level facilities. The project provides for 11 of them. The repairs are nearing completion at most facilities and contracts have been concluded for virtually all of them. We are planning to come close to finishing the repair works in November and mid-December. I am now referring to all of Russia’s regions. Not all facilities are being repaired but only the first- and second-level ones, or the best-equipped centres.

Concerning equipment purchases, we have full particulars on every specific facility: the number of contracts concluded and, so to speak, tenders held. So far it looks as though all deliveries will be completed by November-December. We have reached agreement regarding all the equipment. The regions have met all the requirements that we set.

Concerning ambulances, in total, 50 vehicles are being purchased for these centres. We consider that number large enough to provide emergency aid in line with the regulations. The regions are also training specialists. The best results have been reported from the Khabarovsk Territory: their training programme is practically finished. The Amur Region has trained 42 doctors out of the scheduled 64. Things are worse in the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Jewish Region. The Jewish Region will probably be able to cite other figures now. But according to our information, only 18 people were sent for retraining there during the past month. I hope we will receive duly processed and signed reports from the two regions in the near future and provide subsidies to them to ensure that all measures are carried out by January 1.

Vladimir Putin: Is the money coming from the healthcare modernisation programme?

Maxim Topilin: No, from the national project.

Vladimir Putin: How much overall?

Maxim Topilin: A total of 900 million roubles for all four regions. It is federal funding.

Vladimir Putin: I see. And how much do the regions contribute?

Maxim Topilin: The regional contributions are as follows: the Trans-Baikal Territory allocated nearly 100 million roubles (99 million) in addition to our subsidy of 311 million, and the Khabarovsk Territory’s allocation is 30.5 million roubles, with a 45.8 million worth of federal subsidy.

The Amur Region: we invest 382 million roubles, while the region contributes 191 million. The Jewish Region: the federal subsidy amounts to 151 million and 8 million roubles is provided from the regional budget.

Vladimir Putin: I would like colleagues from the regions to provide the approved allocations. Don’t forget to do it.

Remark: Yes, certainly, we will.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Who will report on the efforts of the Emergencies Ministry?

Ruslan Tsalikov (First Deputy Emergencies Minister): Mr Putin, we had three objectives: to provide ground support and air support and to create a system of emergency calls and dispatchers. I can report that the system of ground support is fully effective. We have 34 fire-fighting and rescue teams, which have answered 97 emergency calls from the sites of traffic accidents at the request of traffic inspectors this year. We have the data for each region. We subsequently plan to increase the number of such teams by seven under different programmes, such as fire safety, promotion of rescue skills and interaction with Russian regions, with which we are working under contracts. In other words, we are now adjusting the system, trying to reduce the distance, which varies from a 15 minutes’ drive to 30 minutes in the Trans-Baikal Territory.

As for air support, the task was set for 2014-2016. We have done the necessary calculations and submitted them to the Transport Ministry. According to them, nine helicopters and helipads at hospitals located along the route can ensure round-the-clock monitoring and delivery of medics to patients.

Regarding System-112: our colleagues have reported that communication has been established, which means that we can transfer our operating fire-fighting and rescue units to the system without waiting for the approval of the federal targeted programme. We will present the programme in November and it will highlight the Chita-Khabarovsk federal road.

Igor Shchegolev: We checked the system’s operation along the route and have established that Call 112 is working well.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Now about the rally from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad, which the transport minister mentioned. The rally participants told me that they could not find any police along the route. Mr Kiryanov, where is the police?

Viktor Kiryanov (Deputy Minister of the Interior): Mr Putin, it is good that we are building new roads, better roads, where cars can drive faster, but unfortunately this leads to traffic accidents. This year the number of traffic accidents along that route has grown compared to last year. The figures are relatively small – I am talking about the accidents in which people were killed or injured: there were 206 traffic accidents with 73 fatalities, which is certainly a negative trend. When traffic intensity grows – and I think it will – the number of traffic accidents will grow as well. Of course, we must take measures. Approximately 200 kilometres… I read the reference materials Mr Shchegolev has shown, and it is true that you can’t see traffic police along that route. Of course, since traffic is becoming more intense, we should also enhance police supervision. Some 70%-80% of accidents happen because drivers violate traffic rules: the speed has gone up and probably not everyone can drive safely at such a speed. Mr Putin, we have made the necessary calculations and submitted them to the government. I think that next year, when we receive allocations from the federal budget, we will increase the number of personnel and then you will see traffic police along the route.

Vladimir Putin: Do you want us to increase the number of personnel in the traffic police as a whole?

Viktor Kiryanov: It is true that our calculations demand an increase in personnel, but unfortunately drivers sometimes have to wait for five hours for traffic police to come register an accident. That will not do.

Vladimir Putin: Good, we will consider that. But you also need to build something, isn’t it so?

Viktor Kiryanov: Yes, we do, and we have made the necessary calculations for this too. In a certain number …

Vladimir Putin: If we accept your proposals and provide the money, when will we see changes on the route?

Viktor Kiryanov: Immediately, I think, because traffic police posts could be built next to the planned filling stations, couldn’t they?

Vladimir Putin: How fast can you build these posts? Can they work fast?

Viktor Kiryanov: If we have the money, we will not procrastinate.

Vladimir Putin: Still, how long will it take?

Remark: These are prefab block buildings.

Vladimir Putin: Prefab blocks?

Remark: That’s right. Such buildings can be put up within a year.

Vladimir Putin: A year?

Viktor Kiryanov: Actually, I think it will take a bit longer.

Vladimir Putin: You told me we will see the change immediately, and now you say it will take more than a year.

Viktor Kiryanov: I am not a construction specialist, but I think they will need a year to prepare the site and erect a building.

Vladimir Putin: Let’s ask governors, they know all about construction. Please, Mr Geniatulin.

Ravil Geniatulin (Governor of the Trans-Baikal Territory): Mr Putin, thank you for the decisions which were made in Chita and implemented within a year, because now there are communication lines linking the Trans-Baikal Territory with the Far East. We can see that the road is becoming heavily travelled. The main thing is that large trucks have started using it, while it used to be only delivery and local vehicles. But now long-haul trucks are driving the road. Furthermore, the companies building large mining and enrichment plants are using it to deliver the necessary materials and equipment. In short, the road is very busy. I drove down it before October 1, as I had promised you, and reported my impressions to your reception room. I covered 250 kilometres, made a phone call and can tell you that reception was very good. I can assure you that connection is almost always stable – I used two providers, MegaFon and MTS; I didn’t use the third operator, Beeline. Reception is unstable only for a few hundred metres in deep hollows. As we drove along, we saw that there were some very deep hollows there, which is why you lose connection there. But it resumed immediately as we left the hollow area, and the quality of connection is very good.

We planned to provide communication to 40 residential areas, which will for the first time have reliable connection. Connection is now stable in 38 of them. The relay stations are being completed and adjusted in the remaining two; work is still underway yet reception is quite reliable.

The most important thing is what drivers say. One driver has told me openly: “Mr Geniatulin, even nighttime driving will be better now, because when you know that you have a telephone connection and can phone for help if necessary, you feel more confident.” And their families will sleep better now because long-haul drivers can now call Krasnoyarsk or any other city and tell their kids that they are fine.

As for road development, you have correctly pointed to the need for medical aid. But the thing is that there is a great deal to do: we must invest 410 million roubles to provide equipment to the bulk of emergency stations along the road. We will accomplish this task on time; we have held all tenders and so will complete this project within a few days.

We need more filling stations: there are only 13 of them whereas we need about 20. We are working on it now. There are two or three areas where the distance between filling stations is up to 200 kilometres, which is a big problem. But we are working to resolve it.

As for catering, there are only 11 restaurants along this part of the road. The distance between them seems acceptable, yet three new catering establishments have been opened there, with a small motel, a covered and open-air parking lots and reliable telephone communication. By the way, we could build traffic police posts there too, to have all of these services in one place.

My view is that traffic police posts should be placed at locations where there are other services as well so that we do not have to build these facilities separately, which would create additional problems.

There are two or three issues that require attention. Firstly, I support the traffic police proposal to increase the number of personnel on the roads, because people have to wait for hours for a patrol car to arrive in the event of even minor accidents. This is a real problem. Moreover, I also consider it to be expedient – and I am ready to move forward with this – to purchase at least two light helicopters for the Interior Ministry to monitor the highway and respond promptly if needed. Using one of the Emergencies Ministry’s Mi-8 choppers would be too expensive. If this idea receives support, I am ready to carry it out in 2012. I have already discussed this idea with Mr Rashid Nurgaliyev (Minister of the Interior); we have reached an understanding and are ready to proceed.

Vladimir Putin: How long does it take to erect these small structures for traffic police?

Ravil Geniatulin: These are just ordinary traffic posts. I think we could install as many as we need in a year.

Vladimir Putin: Do you have sufficient funds for this?

Ravil Geniatulin: We could locate enough.

Remark: If there are other services already in place, and electricity…

Vladimir Putin: This needs to be done within a year. All right, Mr Kiryanov?

Viktor Kiryanov: I’m putting it down.

Ravil Geniatulin: We will also need to connect them with our system. We have facilities along the highway where cameras could be installed.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, that needs to be done.

Ravil Geniatulin: Now, as for the reports of unfinished asphalt covering at some place where these guys drove by… I have already met with them, and we had a very constructive discussion – productive and mutually satisfying. This was when you ordered the reconstruction of the 96 km stretch of the road approaching Chita. The covering was back from the 1970s, and was really quite bad. We had to remove it. We completed some 15 km by October 1 and we plan to do an additional 15-20 km next year. So next time someone drives past and complains about the condition of the road, it would be because there is planned work going on, that cannot be avoided.

Vladimir Putin: Are you doing this as part of regular maintenance?

Ravil Geniatulin: Yes, it's fully agreed upon.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Mr Shport, go ahead please.

Vyacheslav Shport (Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory): Mr Putin, one of the important facilities along the Amur Highway is located in the Khabarovsk Territory. I am referring to the 5.5 km bridge across the Amur River. Mobile services function there, including MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon. There are two petrol stations and auto services, so I can say that that part of the highway is serviced well.

We have experience creating all three levels of medical services for accident relief. We have been doing this along the M-60 highway for at least two years, and we have agreed to provide these services in neighbouring regions. We have signed an agreement with the Jewish Autonomous Region to provide healthcare services 100 km away from Khabarovsk, along this stretch here. We already have the equipment in place for the first level, and we are completing the second and third levels now, so there will be no problems here. The practice that we employ is well-developed and has been thoroughly tested. Before this system was introduced, 13,000 traffic accidents took place on the stretch of the M-60 that I mentioned over the course of five years, resulting in 15,500 injuries, some of them lethal. With this system, we have calculated that the number of deaths resulting from a failure to provide first aid to the victims in a timely manner decreased by 20%-22%.

This notion of subsidising the acquisition of CT scanners, X-ray machines and other cutting-edge emergency aid equipment has proven to be effective and should be extended to other regions without a doubt. This work is currently in full swing. Thank you for giving so much attention to this project.

I can give you an example of how the road is also working, and its broad applications. First, it is used to ship Superjet aircraft body parts F1 and F6 from Novosibirsk, where they are manufactured, to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. We have also transported a second batch of cows that we bought in Siberia to Khabarovsk, also along this road. This indicates that the farming sector, along with aircraft-building, is benefiting from this road. People drive along it as well. So there is a growing need – I'm coming back to the bridge now – there is a need to start building the third part of its second stage. The piers are already in place.

We have discussed this in Chita, where I have raised this issue. Last August, when you held a meeting in Chita, the traffic across this bridge amounted to 4,500-5,000 vehicles per day; now it has reached 10,000. This puts the bridge in the next bracket – Mr Levitin is familiar with this categorisation. This means it needs to be expanded to four lanes. So, widening the bridge is one pressing issue; the other is a bypass road around Khabarovsk (we have also discussed this). Heavy trucks travelling to Vladivostok currently have to cross Khabarovsk, which wears out city roads. I ask you to issue a command about this, in order to get the issue moving. The bridge is in fact included in the programme, but it has somehow been rescheduled…

Igor Levitin: Well, after we completed the work on the Chita-Khabarovsk Highway, we estimated that…

Vladimir Putin: It was too expensive wasn’t it? How much? About 12 billion?

Igor Levitin: Around 10 billion, but we decided to finish the equipment first, and then…

Vladimir Putin: Are you planning this bypass around Khabarovsk?

Igor Levitin: Not yet, but we have an idea of the road.

Vyacheslav Shport: We have prepared a draft and are working on pre-design now…

Vladimir Putin: Well, make your estimates and then report to me.

Igor Levitin:  All right, we’ll estimate the timing and report.

Vladimir Putin: How long is it anyway?

Vyacheslav Shport: Less than 40 km. 35-40 km.

Igor Levitin: We need to look at the route, so that we don't buy more land than we need. And we need to make a final decision as to whether we need to reinforce this bridge or build a bypass.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Think about it and report back. Mr Kozhemyako, please go ahead.

Oleg Kozhemyako: The Amur Region government has completed the following projects upon your instruction pertaining to the Amur Federal Highway development. The stretch of the road that crosses the Amur Region is 313 km long. We have built four exits from the federal highway. In 2012, we plan to build a fifth one, near the town of Svobodny. All of the construction has been of high quality and has been completed on time. We have already developed project specifications and estimates for eight additional exit roads. But they are included in the federal programme for the Far East and the Transbaikal Area development. After the programme budget was cut, we find ourselves with a shortage of funds – 783 million roubles.

There is one more problem. For the Amur Highway to truly work as a mainline linking regional and federal transport, we have redistributed the funds under this programme after consulting with the Federal Road Agency, and the Ministries of Transport and of Regional Development. The funds have been redistributed from a bridge that had been planned across the Zeya to finance most of the exit roads from the federal highway. But the programme was cut, as I have said, leaving us without a bridge or roads, which would have become fast growth points, providing the necessary load for the federal highway and related road infrastructure.

Therefore, I would like to see you support this issue from the perspective of renovating existing regional roads on co-financing terms.

We have also established four interurban bus service routes as per your instructions to develop the bus service, which was voiced in Chita on August 30. In 2012, we will launch four more interurban bus services and two interregional ones connecting Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. So, we are actually performing this work. There are about 16 food outlets, 20 petrol stations, four hotels and six auto repair shops on this highway. Another six service centres will open in 2012, namely, two petrol stations and four roadside service outlets, including cafes, tyre centres and hotels.

We have drafted a programme to support small- and medium-sized businesses that are willing to develop infrastructure off the federal highway by subsidizing interest payments equal to the Central Bank’s refinancing rate. This includes our making lease down payments. We have paid the first 5 million roubles to cover 10 bus routes and we are also subsidising the drafting of estimates and business plans to construct such outlets. All of the entrepreneurs have been familiarised with this procedure. We have also developed the accelerated procedure for allocating land parcels and connecting the areas adjoining the Amur federal highways to the utilities.

As for the provision of medical assistance to patients involved in traffic accidents, we have two first-level trauma centres in Blagoveshchensk (for children and adults), four two-level centres in Skovorodino, Belogorsk, Shimanovsk and Bureya and four third-level centres in Magdagachi, Svobodny, Zavitinsk and Arkhara.

In addition, we have allocated additional funds from our own budget to cut the transportation time to these centres to under one hour. We have already drafted estimates to build four roadside healthcare centres to include a feldsher, an ambulance, an Emergencies Ministry employee and a traffic police station, which will gather highway traffic information.

The total amount of funds allocated for these purposes includes 382 million roubles under the federal programme and 191 million roubles of our own funds. We will also spend 22 million roubles to build these four roadside complexes. This will make possible the construction of fast-response trauma centres off the highway – actually 10 such centres every 100 km – which will cut the patient transportation time to under one hour. In addition, we have opened a regional perinatal centre, and we are ready to admit all expecting mothers in need of obstetric service. We have already had 45 births at the centre.

Vladimir Putin: You will pick them up right on the highway?

Oleg Kozhemyako: Yes, right on the highway. The programme is already operative. All of the competitive procedures have been put on auction and repairs are underway. We will complete all of the repairs and finish the construction of the trauma centres by late 2011. We also plan to complete all of the auction procedures this year, or by the first quarter of 2012 at the latest.  

We have 52 functioning communication towers, which have passed the required tests. In addition, we have mounted fire surveillance cameras on several of them. These cameras can see as far as 60 km, which looks good to us, so we plan to outfit all of the towers with these cameras as agreed upon with Mr Shchegolyev (Minister of Communications). Furthermore, these towers have 3G Internet access capability, so we will provide telephone access to 74 villages near the federal highway.

We have also tested the meteorology system using these towers (they are properly outfitted), which will make it possible to receive information about temperatures, ice and other weather conditions along the entire length of the highway. Therefore, work is underway in all of these areas, and we believe that we are headed in the right direction.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. Mr Vinnikov, please go ahead.

Alexander Vinnikov (Governor of the Jewish Autonomous Region): Mr Putin, we have performed some work (they’ve already mentioned it today) focusing on the development of communications in the region. This work was performed in accordance with your instructions issued in Chita on August 30, 2010. The Far Eastern Federal District’s radio frequency centre says that communications have been enabled along 98% of the highway passing through the Jewish Autonomous Region (350 km) as of October 1. That’s what Mr Shchegolyev referred to. So, we have to complete the construction of two more facilities by October 15 and then 100% of the highway will be covered with communications. In addition, 14 villages now have access to cellular communications, which is also very good news.

As for the service infrastructure on this portion of the highway, we have eight tyre centres there – four more are being built, one car wash – two more are being built, 17 food outlets, three camping sites, and 12 petrol stations – two more are being built, which complies with the standard requirements.  

I believe that today, let’s put it this way, the shortage of traffic police officers remains a real problem. In accordance with your instructions dated January 1, we have established a dedicated unit, but it was dissolved in July as part of the law on police. Therefore, we believe that such a unit still needs to be established. We have already discussed these issues, and we will be pleased if we manage to do so. So far, the federal highway has been serviced by traffic police from the city of Birobidzhan, which certainly undermines their operation in the city that has numerous problems itself.

As for medical services, they have already reported that all of the auctions have been held and fully completed. The repair work will be finished before December 1, as we promised the Healthcare and Social Development Ministry. We expect to receive and install the equipment before December 25, so as to be able to perform in full all of our functions under the agreement with the Healthcare Ministry.

My colleague, Mr Shport, has already mentioned that we had signed an agreement with the Khabarovsk Territory whereby the territorial authorities will take care of the 100 km of the highway that pass from Khabarovsk to the district centre, which is the village of Smidovich. On our part, we will cover the portion running from Smidovich to the border with the Amur Region. Therefore, I believe that all of the instructions that you issued in Chita have been fulfilled.

Vladimir Putin: Good.

Colleagues, the development of infrastructure in general and roads in particular is very important for any country, any economy and perhaps is an issue of prime importance for Russia.

However, we can see that road construction in such remote parts of Russia as the Far East or eastern Siberia is also extremely important because once they are in place, they will have a multiplier effect on the regional development in general. Just think of it… The renovation of healthcare facilities, the construction of access roads, including local roads, communications, safety and security...

By all means, we will look into your request to increase the figures. You are not any different from any ministry or department, which has the same problem of an uneven allocation of resources. Internal reserves should be summed up and we will certainly look into your request.

We will be able to effectively address the tasks that I mentioned earlier only if we join and properly coordinate our efforts. Just like in any other business, one missing link can wreak havoc in the entire chain. Therefore, please make sure you follow all of the plans that we discussed today and will discuss later when the press leaves the auditorium.

Much has already been done, but lots of things still need to be seen to completion. We need to finish everything that we started across all of the areas that we discussed here today, and then establish proper conditions for the effective and efficient operation of the entire system. This is what I would like you to focus on.