A. Turchak about the “Good Wave”: “Let's try to bring it to the federal level”

(KZN.RU, December 2, Mikhail Chentsov). A number of city initiatives and projects, which was announced at the XXVII conference of the Tatarstan regional branch of the All-Russian political party “United Russia”, received federal support. Andrey Turchak, who temporarily acts as the Secretary of the General Council of United Russia, the deputy chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the RF, proposed to bring the project “Good Wave” to the federal level and consider the possibility of supporting a program on financing the construction of communications for large families in villages.

Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, the member of the Supreme Council of the United Russia, Farid Mukhametshin, the Secretary of the regional branch of the party, the chairman of the State Council of the RT, Ilsur Metshin, the Secretary of the Kazan local branch of the party, the head of the capital of the RT, participated in the conference. The events were also attended by deputies of the State Duma of the RF and the State Council of the RT, representatives of ministries and public organizations. 283 out of the 299 delegates were present, there was a quorum for making a decision.

The main issue on the agenda was summarizing the work of the Tatarstan branch of the United Russia in 2017 and the tasks for 2018. Rustam Minnikhanov addressed the audience and noted the significant role of the party in the social and political development of Tatarstan. “The party projects implemented in the republic are closely connected with the demands of the population”, he said. Thus, 46 thousand new places in kindergartens have been created in Tatarstan for 6 years, about 5.5 billion rubles have been allocated for the liquidation of emergency housing, and budget expenses for salaries have doubled.

Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, summed up the work over the past years of work. He noted that today Kazan is among the leaders not only in the republic but also in whole Russia. “Our city is among the top three leaders in the most varied ratings and studies over the past few years”, said the Mayor. In the rating of the most hospitable cities based on the travelers’ recommendations, the capital of Tatarstan became the first. Kazan rose from 18th to 2nd place in 2016 in the annual environmental rating of Russian cities. In addition, Kazan took the third place by the life quality among large and medium-sized Russian cities in the rating compiled by the Financial University under the government of the RF.

There are other figures that speak about the achievements of the city and the republic. As a result of the project “Green Record”, more than 180 thousand large-sized trees and 118 thousand shrubs were planted, more than 1.5 million lawns were laid. Thanks to the project “Blooming Kazan”, 6 million flowers are planted annually in the city. The project “100 squares” became the program of landscaping of parks and squares. In the course of its implementation over the past 7 years, 35 parks and squares have been landscaped in Kazan and 15 places for mass recreation have been created. The total area of parkland has increased by one third and now is 367 hectares.

Particular attention in the city is paid to solving social problems. This year, 52 polyclinic buildings were renovated, and the average life expectancy of Kazan grew by 6 years and it is 75 years now.

The head of Kazan noted the project “Good Kazan” among the successful projects, which is a priority for the city. Kazan was chosen as the launching site of the social project “Good Wave”, aimed at supporting the creative initiatives of children with disabilities.

According to Ilsur Metshin, one of the reasons for the successful implementation of projects is a friendly and harmonious work of all levels of government, federal, regional, and urban. Ilsur Metshin also noted a productive dialogue established in the capital of the RT with various city communities. “About 5 thousand citizens took part in the development of the Strategy-2030, adopted last year. As a result, our Strategy-2030 was recently recognized as the best in Russia among the major cities with a million population. This is just one example of a productive dialogue with society”, said the Mayor.

At the same time, the head of the city stopped on issues, the solution of which is yet to be found. “When we started distributing free land plots among large families, more than 1000 families got in the queue. Now there are over 10 thousand of them. This is one of the acute problems: where to find a sufficient number of land plots near Kazan and how to provide them with the necessary communications. This is too much of a burden for the city's budget. We have already appealed to the State Council of the RT to enter the federal level with an initiative providing for parity financing of construction of communications for large families in villages”, said Ilsur Metshin and asked Andrey Turchak to support the initiative at the federal level.

A. Turchak noted that the project, presented by the Mayor of Kazan, is interesting. “We are ready to lead it but before making this decision, of course, we need to calculate. We have accepted this issue, we will discuss it with the Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the RF. We will also discuss specific figures for the republic with Rustam Minnikhanov. I think that by joint efforts of the Supreme Council and the Federal Council, we will try to solve this issue”, said the acting Secretary of the General Council of the United Russia.

In addition, Andrey Turchak was also interested in the projects “Good Kazan” and “Good Wave”. “The “Good Kazan” is a very interesting project. Now there is also the “Good Wave”, a music contest for children, I would say, with special abilities. We will try to bring it to the federal level. I am confident that many of the proposals that were voiced today will form the basis for the decisions of our congress”, he said. The XVII Congress of the All-Russia political party United Russia will take place in Moscow in December.

At the end of the conference, some members of the party were awarded Letters of Gratitude for effective work in the implementation of party projects and active work. In addition, the delegates approved changes in the composition of the regional political council of the party.