Vladimir Putin: “Kazan has transformed significantly in recent years”

Today, the common goal is to ensure the efficiency of local self-government and remove gaps and lack of coordination between the regions and municipalities. This was stated today by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Council for the local self-government development in Krasnogorsk, Moscow region. The meeting was attended by heads of ministries, regions and cities, including the mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin.

When opening the meeting, Vladimir Putin noted that level of public government is the closest to the people, and, thus, has a lot of responsibility.

“ 20 targets and 10 bullets, not everyone is able to hit 2 targets with one shot”

The mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin touched upon a topical matter in the field of municipal management in his speech. As a Chairman of the Association of cities of the Volga region, he appealed to the President of Russia to provide support in solving the problem of wear and tear of utility networks. “Unfortunately, the Soviet safety margin for water utilities, heating networks, and main heating pipelines is running out. Investment rates and extra charges do not allow for large – scale work, we are locked in terms of capacity and financing”, –  the Kazan mayor explained.

The mayor of the capital of Tatarstan drew attention to the increase in the authorities of local self-government, while the funding remained the same. “In 2005, the 131st  law on local self-government was endorsed. It was balanced in terms of authorities, there were 27 of them, and it clearly provided an instrument of financing. But in 15 years, the number of authorities has increased to 43. And an additional 245 articles. But the funding remains the same”, – Ilsur Metshin said.

During his speech, I.Metshin said that at the end of last year, the elections for the President of the United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) were held in South Africa. For the first time in the history of the organization, which includes 323 thousand municipalities and cities, it was headed by the Russian city – Kazan.

“We have a proposal to create an international University of municipal and regional development to collect the latest technologies, using the new platform”, – I.Metshin said.

“Municipalities will be the groundwork of all transformations”

In conclusion, I.Metshin thanked the President of Russia for the infrastructure changes that have taken place in Kazan. The mayor of the capital of Tatarstan emphasized that the President’s decision taken in 2007 for reform the housing and utilities sector played an important role. “I was a young mayor at that time, and we had 1.5 thousand elevators in the city out of 9 thousand that were supposed to get out of order within the next two years. Neither the region nor the city had money for repairs. You were told that this is not your level of authorities, it is the municipal level of responsibility. But you said then that “people are ours”, - I.Metshin recalled. “Presently, only in Kazan, 70% of the requested housing has been completely repaired. This is a different living standard, different people, different mood. We are sure that both national projects and topics of the Address to the Federal Assembly will find their solution and municipalities will be the groundwork of all transformations,” the mayor of the capital of Tatarstan concluded his speech.

“Kazan has transformed significantly in recent years. Thanks to the joint efforts of the Republic and its residents, your efforts and the federal support”, – V.Putin concluded.

“It is important to ensure the unity of all levels of government”

At the meeting, the President of Russia drew attention to the need to improve coordination at the federal level of everything that concerns local self-government. In this context, Vladimir Putin instructed to start drafting new basic principles of national policy on local self-government development through to 2030.

"Local self-government bodies are not part of the government system. The fact that they act independently within their authority does not mean that Russia’s single political, economic, cultural, or transport space is fragmented”, – V.Putin emphasized. In his opinion, it is important to ensure the unity of all levels of government.

“These positive practices need to be replicated throughout the country”

“We will strictly follow them and provide a proper environment for each municipality in Russia, so that it can work efficiently for the benefit of the people and actively participate in achieving the national development goals as a dependable, rather than some kind of weak or inert, link in the government”, – V.Putin assured and noted that the absolute majority of national projects are focused on local matters.

The President of the Russian Federation drew attention to the fact that the mechanisms of direct communication between the authorities and the people have already been created in many regions. The head of state named Tatarstan as an example. “These positive practices need to be replicated throughout the country. Should any of them lack budget funds of their own, such initiatives must be supported at other levels”, – the Russian President emphasized.