Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Yurchenko, we are certainly going to talk about the problems facing the region but before we start dealing with the economy and the social sphere, I would like to discuss with you several issues that came to me, people’s messages reached me as I was preparing for the trip. These issues are related primarily to social and housing problems.

The first problem is at 7 Vyazemskaya Street. The residents of the building raise the issue that a six-story high-end block of flats is going to be built, and it worries them. I ask you to look deeply into the matter and meet the people so as to see what is going on there, what sort of buildings there are and what is to be done with them. The buildings might need repairing, and maybe the people should be relocated.

Vasily Yurchenko: Mr. Putin, I have already held a meeting on land plots in the city. There has been no construction on a large number of allocated plots for a long time. I think this matter is part of that same story. We shall figure it out and check if it conforms with the city’s planning regulations.

Vladimir Putin: It is not the matter whether development has been delayed for a long time, it is a matter of the people who already live there, and they are worried, that’s what it is. So please take notice of it.

Vasily Yurchenko: That is, it’s infill development and ...

Vladimir Putin: Possibly. Now, here is 27 Yakushev Street. There was a fire in the building, but even before its deterioration apparently stood at 67%. You have to see together with the city’s authorities what should be done with the building. I’ll keep the copies of these and give you all of them.

There is a similar question, a similar problem. “We live in barracks built in 1953 as temporary dwellings with no heating,” this comes from 136 Nikitin Sreet. Irina Smirnova writes that before perestroika some people were resettled but everything stopped later on. Of course, this is not connected with perestroika, it has to do with a lot of housing like this in our country, and people should be made aware of it. If this housing was built in 1953 as temporary… What is temporary housing? It is supposed to serve for two, three, maybe five years, but not fifty years! That is why this is a result of what had been done in the previous decades. I should say that of the total of 3 billion square metres of residential housing in our country about 60 million square metres are dilapidated houses. All this is a legacy of the past decades. In some regions, as well as here, people were just fooled: they were promised resettlement in the following two or three years but it never happened. In the Baikal-Amur area, for example, people still live in trailers that cannot even be registered as dilapidated housing since the trailers are not considered residences. There are some other cases of this kind but I would like to draw you attention to the fact that if people write about it, they are worried about the way their problem is being addressed, that is, they most likely feel abandoned, they feel nobody cares about them. 

The Novosibirsk Region, as you  yourself told me, received almost seven billion from the housing and utilities fund.

Vasily Yurchenko: Yes, 6.7 billion.

Vladimir Putin: According to my data, you have about 590 million in available funds, and while designing a resettlement and repairs programme... Although much has been done, I know, you have over a thousand buildings repaired, people are being resettled from hazardous buildings, and quite a large number of families have been relocated, but I am asking you to pay attention to it.

Vasily Yurchenko: Yes, Mr Putin. Just two weeks ago Viktor Basargin visited us, he worked with us. We discussed these issues and I will certainly monitor that building. We have done a lot but unfortunately the number of hazardous buildings is still quite big. We have a city programme but even with the help of the federal budget we did not manage to solve all the problems. But we shall take this one under control by all means. 

Vladimir Putin: People should be made aware of that. You see, if you had a plan… we have spoken about electronic government today, about keeping people informed. If they could see which houses are slated for repair or resettlement, and know the deadlines, they would feel different about it. And now they just don’t have any information.

Vasily Yurchenko: It might not have reached them since we have a plan, Mr Putin. We will definitely work on the Oktyabrsky District of Novosibirsk, I am going to meet the residents.

Vladimir Putin: And here the problem is with authorising the building. It must have been a squatter settlement. They need help. It is Old Sukharnaya Street, right?

Vasily Yurchenko: I’ll see to it, too.

Vladimir Putin: Please see to it and help them. 

And one more similar request. It has to do entirely with utilities – connecting to central heating. Here is the address – 18 Telman Street, I am leaving it with you too.

And one more question. I can’t figure out what is going on here – this is Novosibirsk Region, Beryozovka village council. The head of the council, a Mr Mikheyev, by his order of December 16, 2011 approved new tariffs and raised utilities rates by 40-50%. You know about the decision allowing for utilities rate hikes only from July 1, 2012. There could not be any grounds for utilities hikes starting January 1^st. And in July the maximum increase, I stress, the maximum, is 12%.  We expect that nationwide it will be even less than 10%, but on average it should be 12%. Plans have to be made around that number.

Vasily Yurchenko: We have accepted exactly the same rates by the department. And I will surely address the situation with the Beryozovka village council, with the council head, probably. But I have it under my constant supervision, and this goes beyond the responsibility of the local authorities, Mr Putin, and all the decisions for the region, for all municipalities, fit the parameters set by the government, or they are even lower, both on electricity and heating. As to this particular case, I shall deal with it tomorrow.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, it is a letter from the residents of buildings 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Lesnaya Street, Beryozovka village. Please look into the matter carefully and report to me.

Vasily Yurchenko: All right, Mr Putin.