Translated material
"Got it!"
Vladimir Putin also does not like housing and communal services
Yesterday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Kaliningrad, where he was supposed to hold two openings and one meeting. But one discovery almost fell through: the meeting of the Presidential Council for the Development of Local Self-Government dragged on so long that the ceremony of inauguration of the concert and sports complex had already taken place without the prime minister, who only appeared at the last moment to offer congratulations.The first of the planned openings took place without any glitches - the head of government opened a section of the new highway. Although there could well be surprises here too. On the day of Vladimir Putin's arrival in Kaliningrad, a protest action was planned by employees of the bankrupt KD-Avia airline. Approximately 150 people gathered in the city center under slogans characteristic of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. They demanded to change the economic course of the region and the country as a whole, to improve the living conditions of all citizens, and only then to pay back wages to the employees of their problematic airline. The speaker from the podium tried to read the resolution of the meeting “as loudly as possible so that Vladimir Vladimirovich could hear.”
The Prime Minister could hardly hear the call - at that moment the special flight had not yet landed in Kaliningrad. But later, Putin instructed the governor of the Kaliningrad region, Georgy Boos, to pay back wages to KD-Avia employees in the form of assistance from funds provided in the summer by the federal budget of the region to support the airline. “You have this money. It came from the federal budget,” the prime minister said.
Immediately upon his arrival in Kaliningrad, Mr. Putin went to open the first stage of the ring road in the Primorsky recreational zone. The section opened by the prime minister will connect coastal resorts with an international airport and sea and river ports. The project is federal and is being implemented within the framework of the “Highways” subprogram of the Federal Targeted Program “Modernization of the Russian Transport System 2002-2010”.
The 26.7 km section of the road with interchanges, bridges and overpasses turned out to be even cheap by Russian standards - only 7.1 billion rubles, or approximately $245 million (as indicated in the materials prepared for the prime minister's visit). However, Transport Minister Igor Levitin told reporters at the opening ceremony that, according to his information, the cost of this section was even less - 6.5 billion rubles.
Vladimir Putin praised the work, but it seems that the construction successes did not inspire the prime minister too much. Recently, the head of the federal government has obviously been concerned about the problems of local self-government - yesterday's meeting on this topic in the administration of the Kaliningrad region was the third in the last month. Previously, the problems of local and regional authorities were discussed in Kaluga at a meeting of the government commission on regional development and at a government meeting in Moscow. Vladimir Putin expressed dissatisfaction with the level of education of local officials and the quality of management of single-industry towns.
But yesterday we talked about working together to overcome the consequences of the crisis. The prime minister paid most attention to the fight against unemployment (apparently, he still partially heard the calls of the protesters who were outraged by the high level of unemployment in the regions). The Prime Minister entrusted the responsibility for informing citizens about anti-crisis measures to municipalities, which, according to Mr. Putin, determine the effectiveness of the resources allocated by the federal government for professional retraining, support for small businesses and self-employment, and targeted assistance to those who have lost their jobs. The head of government sweetened the burden of responsibility of municipal officials with a promise to think about additional strengthening of the financial base of municipalities.
Separately, the prime minister had something to say regarding the work of housing and communal services structures. “We got it!” - Vladimir Putin was very emotional two times about the paid services of private companies imposed on the population, replacing government bodies or intermediating between citizens and the government agencies they need. The Prime Minister promised to arrange a “debriefing” at the level of the relevant federal departments and demanded that a corresponding list of services be drawn up with an indication of the cost.
Then the head of the Ministry of Regional Development, Viktor Basargin, took the floor and added energy saving to the list of anti-crisis measures announced by the prime minister. “Preparation for the heating season was also an anti-crisis measure,” the minister resourcefully stated. Indeed, this year 3 thousand temporary jobs were created as part of this process.
The results of the work surprised Mr. Basargin himself: “The number of budget surpluses has increased by 1.5 times compared to 2008 - such an unexpected effect.” “But the main goal has not been fully achieved - to make citizens feel that work is underway. 60% of Russians do not know about the anti-crisis measures taken by local self-government bodies,” the minister complained.
The closed part of the meeting dragged on so long that the opening of a new, very beautiful and useful facility - the Yantarny sports and concert complex - had to be held without a distinguished guest. On this day, two meetings of the open semi-finals of the Russian Volleyball Cup took place here. The athletes could not wait until midnight: unlike Mr. Putin, they have a regime. But the prime minister still honored the second semi-final and the few spectators who had waited with his brief visit.