Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Kobylkin, we visited the Zapolyarnoye oil, gas and condensate field, and saw how life is there. We were there at the moment when extraction reached the target volume, which is great. We got a glimpse of how gas workers live, and their camp, which is impressive. The camp is a high-tech modular complex with everything you need.
There are other construction projects in the area as well. Yesterday and this morning when we were passing Novy Urengoi and other sites we saw barracks that remained from the past, and dilapidated housing. You have large amount of housing that is dilapidated and should be torn down. We must adopt the necessary decision, organise the funding as part of current federal and regional programmes, and demolish the dilapidated housing. What measures have been taken?
Dmitry Kobylkin: Mr Medvedev, you are absolutely correct. Although Novy Urengoi is a completely new city, it has the largest number of dilapidated residential buildings. There is nearly one million square metres of dilapidated housing in Yamal that we are to tear down by 2015. This is the main work being done to demolish dilapidated housing, which we want to complete – 70% is to be torn down by 2015. We will then have 500,000 square metres of dilapidated housing. We can do this with funds from our own budget, without any support.
We have been working on this with Gazprom. They have been helping us because housing is a common problem. The trail-blazing geologists who came here to develop the North in the 1970s also live in this kind of housing. I think it is our duty to help them.
Dmitry Medvedev: Without a doubt.
Dmitry Kobylkin: It is one of our priorities.
Dmitry Medvedev: Do you have the resources for this? Building 1 million square metres of housing is a challenging task. Will you use local housing-building factories or attract outside contractors?
Dmitry Kobylkin: Nearly 90% of the necessary materials will be delivered to the Yamalo-Nenets area from other regions. As for construction companies, 50% of them will be local and 50% from other regions, but our priority is to use as many of the local companies as possible.
Dmitry Medvedev: You must also use modern high-tech materials, which ensure the construction of warm houses and mean construction costs can be reduced.
Dmitry Kobylkin: We don’t import materials from the regions beyond the Urals Federal District. There are companies which produce them in the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions. We are building comfortable housing. Of course, people would like to have larger flats, but we have to comply with the approved standards.
Dmitry Medvedev: Yes, you should proceed with due regard for the current legislation on housing, but try to satisfy as many requirements as possible at the same time. Anyway, your key priority is to get rid of run down housing. Agreed?
Dmitry Kobylkin: Agreed.
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