Ilsur Metshin held a meeting of members of the Association of Volga Region cities

(KZN.RU, June 17, Mikhail Chentsov). The meeting of members of the Association of Volga Region cities (AVC) was held in the Kazan City Hall, chaired by Ilsur Metshin, the head of the Tatarstan’s. The implementation of housing programs, the development of municipalities, and the participation of Kazan in the project “The Golden Collection of the Volga Region Filmography” were the main issues, which were discussed at the meeting.

Opening the meeting, Ilsur Metshin noted that such international events as the Universiade, FINA World Championship, and the Confederations Cup significantly contributed to the development of Kazan. “A lot of events are happening in the world, for which it is possible and necessary to compete. Each such event forces us to take on more complicated things than before. This concerns security, medical services, transport, etc. Participation in international events takes the city to a completely different level, changes the mentality of its residents, reveals the potential of young people, and opens new opportunities”, said the chairman of the AVC and urged his colleagues to work actively in this direction.

The members of the AVC went on to the discussing of issues on the agenda on a round table basic. The reports were made by the heads of Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, and Cheboksary and by Marcel Abdulkhakov, the head of the Housing Policy Department of the Kazan Executive Committee. They told about the implementation of housing programs in their cities. The speakers mentioned such problems as the resettlement of people from emergency housing, the provision workers of housing and communal services and orphans with housing, the high cost of preferential housing per square meter, the provision of land to large families, etc.

According to Marcel Abdulkhakov, there are 8 programs in Kazan to improve housing conditions. The first and the largest is the social mortgage program, which has been operating since 2005 and providing the housing on preferential terms to employees of the budgetary sphere and enterprises participating in the financing of the program, to recipients of federal subsidies and housing certificates, etc. Housing construction is carried out by the State Housing Fund under the President of the RT. Land plots are granted in a simplified manner without public bidding. “For today, the cost of housing is 30-40 thousand per square meter with a market value of similar housing from 50 to 60 thousand per square meter. Under the terms of the program, the waiting time for an apartment is no more than 3 years. Since 2005, 24698 families have already purchased a new comfortable housing according to the terms of the program”, said the head of the Housing Policy Department.

Alexey Ladykov, the head of the administration of Cheboksary, shared the experience of implementing housing programs in his city. In particular, he made a proposal to introduce housing certificates worth 300-400 thousand rubles, which would be given to large families. “The use of such a certificate together with the parent's capital provides 700-800 thousand rubles. With this, large families will have a real opportunity to improve their living conditions in a short period of time. The adoption of such a decision will also serve as an additional impulse for the development of the construction industry and will ensure the replenishment of the budget through the collection of taxes”, said A. Ladykov.

Ilsur Metshin supported the idea of the head of Cheboksary. “The project is perfect. Unfortunately, this issue is still unresolved for us. Therefore it is necessary to go to a higher level for paying attention to this problem”, noted the chairman of the AVC.

The reports of Vladimir Reprintsev, the executive director of the AVC, and Radik Shafigullin, the deputy head of the Kazan Executive Committee, were also heard in the course of the meeting. They mentioned the issues of additional financial investments of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the development of municipalities and the formation of city budgets. Thus, R. Shafigullin made a proposal to settle the share of taxes levied on the territory of cities for a municipal entity at the rate of 15%. The members of the AVC supported this proposal.

In conclusion, V. Reprintsev spoke about the implementation of the project “The Golden Collection of the Volga Region Filmography”, in the archives of which thousands of unique documents of the cultural and historical heritage of the region are contained. According to the speaker, it is planned to organize a regular publication of the newsreel “My Volga Region” on the basis of this project and provide educational institutions with special educational and pedagogical aids at the rate of history. “It is a great idea. History must be kept and revived. Let's support the project”, said I. Metshin.

The Mayor of Kazan thanked the AVC members for their constructive cooperation and noted that the initiatives, identified during the meeting, will be sent to Mikhail Babich, the Plenipotentiary of the President of the RF.