Translated material
Rehearsal room
The Minister of Regional Development explained what his ministry does
Yesterday, Minister of Regional Development Vladimir Yakovlev, the head of the most criticized department in Russia, not counting, perhaps, the Ministry of Health and Social Development, reported to journalists on the state of housing and communal services , the reform of which the department oversees, and on the rest of the work of the ministry. It turned out that the Ministry of Regional Development is actively promoting the implementation of the national project on affordable housing and is going to hold a meeting with the constituent entities of the federation on the results of construction in 2006. Thus, the minister justified himself in absentia to the government and deputies who were dissatisfied with his work.The activities of the Ministry of Regional Development, the very creation of which observers associated with the need to find a decent job for the former mayor of St. Petersburg and ex-presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District Vladimir Yakovlev, are criticized at the highest level. In particular, in October last year, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov considered the work of the Ministry of Regional Development in preparing a plan of regulatory acts related to the reform of housing and communal services unsatisfactory. In his assessment, government members are not involved in this work, and the topic is not raised as sharply as it deserves. And he practically blamed Vladimir Yakovlev personally for this.
Now the minister, who rarely gives press conferences, has decided to publicly talk about achievements in the field of housing and communal services. He said that it is necessary to create market conditions in the housing and communal services sector : “Our task is to denationalize the housing and communal services complex.” True, this task has been set by several generations of Russian officials. According to the minister, public-private enterprises currently serve about 12 million people in Russia. At the same time, according to the Ministry of Regional Development, 6.8% of the country’s residents have already chosen a homeowners’ association (HOA) as a form of housing management. “The liquidation of unprofitable state unitary enterprises and municipal unitary enterprises (state and municipal unitary enterprises) will make it possible to create profitable enterprises on their basis,” the minister promised.
The creation of HOAs, according to Vladimir Yakovlev, is hampered by “those involved in housing and communal services” because they are afraid of losing income. In addition, the creation of partnerships is often hampered by homeowners themselves: “Residents must clearly understand what they are getting into. Citizens are not forced into HOAs. Good will and understanding are needed here.” Let us remind you that HOAs must be created before January 1, 2008.
The head of the Ministry of Regional Development named the implementation of the national project “Affordable Housing” as one of the areas of his activity. It turned out that 16 subjects did not fulfill plans for housing construction in 2006, in particular, the Irkutsk, Samara, Adygei, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Oryol regions and the Perm Territory. Losses due to non-compliance amounted to 800 thousand square meters. m. At the same time, 11 regions commissioned more than a million square meters of housing each. True, among them were not quite “indicative” Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, Tatarstan and Bashkiria.
Vladimir Yakovlev promised that on February 27 the ministry would host a meeting on construction with the participation of regional representatives. And as proof of the results of his department’s work, he said that at the next government meeting on Friday, the Ministry of Regional Development’s bill “On the financial recovery of organizations in the housing and communal services complex” will be considered.
As evidence of the active work of the ministry, Vladimir Yakovlev also told how every week a representative of some region comes to his department and brings a program for socio-economic development. Afterwards, the Ministry of Regional Development invites the government to listen to the regional representative. And, according to Mr. Yakovlev, a representative of the region goes to a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers with an already rehearsed speech in the relevant ministry.