New Year's failure

The Moscow government has not approved the capital's development program for 2006

The last meeting of the capital's government before the new year, of course, was devoted to plans for the next year. Reviewing yesterday the work program of the city executive branch in 2006, Yuri Luzhkov once again proved that, as befits a boss, he looks ahead much further than his subordinates. As a result, all documents were sent for radical revision.

The draft document, which was presented by the head of the economic policy department Marina Ogloblina, was like two peas in a pod like the programs of previous years. Only some numbers were different. The mayor of Moscow could not help but pay attention to this. “Your entire program for next year consists of “introduce,” “develop,” and “prepare proposals,” Mr. Luzhkov said, noting that the document does not contain any specific goals. The mayor's main complaint was that the program did not provide for measures to implement priority national projects.

First Deputy Mayor Yuri Roslyak, who heads the economic policy complex, tried to stand up for the document, promising to immediately make appropriate changes to it and resubmit it for consideration by the mayor in a couple of days. Obviously, according to Mr. Roslyak, this was easy to do, since the quantitative indicators of most of the goals outlined by the president in Moscow have long been achieved even without national programs.

However, the mayor of Moscow cooled the ardor of his deputy. “The program, I apologize for the expression, is absolutely crap and does not meet the tasks that we must solve next year,” said Yuri Luzhkov and began to formulate the goals of the coming year point by point. First of all, it is necessary, if not to completely solve the problem of kindergartens, then at least to significantly reduce the shortage of preschool institutions. To do this, according to the mayor, it is necessary to return the majority of departmental kindergartens to the city’s jurisdiction and build about 100 new ones. “This is a problem, without a solution to which 2006 will be a failure,” Mr. Luzhkov said.

The second most important problem was housing construction. Yuri Luzhkov instructed to increase the share of social mortgages and housing for young families through city investment programs. “Of course, this causes internal disagreement in the economic development department, but I am ready to use the reserves formed this year to increase the social component of housing construction,” Mr. Luzhkov said.

The mayor of Moscow ranked the problems of road construction in third place. “They periodically push me a road construction program,” he began threateningly, declaring that he would not sign the document until at least 3 billion rubles, not 500 million, were allocated for the construction of the Fourth Transport Ring in 2006. , as in the project proposed to him. “Otherwise, we will not fulfill our promise to Muscovites to begin active construction of the Fourth Ring next year,” said the mayor of Moscow.

Having finished, the mayor turned to Yuri Roslyak. “What you have drawn here in the program is very good, very traditional and can be taken as a basis. But don’t come to the government without taking into account the comments made here. If you can do all this in two days, then I and all of us gathered here will consider you a great man,” the mayor told his depressed deputy. However, the mayor relieved Mr. Roslyak of the need to prove that a great man could give a report even on the morning of January 1. A rehearing of the program is scheduled for the 17th.

Alexander GUDKOV