Speech by Tatarstan President at the IV convention of Council of municipal formations

Dear delegates of the convention,

People representing the republican management system have gathered here. Heads of towns, regions, rural districts and settlements, - these are the people who can help us to reach every person and get feedback. You are our support and I would like to thank all heads of municipalities for work you do and contribution you make in development of our Republic.

These are not just fine words, this is reality. We cannot manage the Republic without well-functioning system, and we have to improve this work. Presidium of the Council carries out much conciliatory work so that all government authorities can solve problems of municipalities together. The role of this body is becoming more and more important.

At every convention we discuss positive and negative issues, and we try to solve the set problems in order of importance.

The list of problematic issues was prepared at the last convention. Some of them have not been settled yet. Some of them are connected with our financial system but still we have to find solutions.

One of the issues is well-organized work with supervisory bodies. 2300 prescriptions have already been issued. Probably some of them are reasonable but sometimes officials impose prescriptions and fines using routine approach. To avoid such incidents we have to create an agency comprised of representatives of Prosecutor’s office, court, fire, epidemiological and veterinary inspections.

To solve problems of municipalities we have to delegate them not only duties but fiscal powers. The Russian President made this suggestion public on November 15 in Yakutsk. I am the member of working commission and our suggestions have been conveyed to Moscow.

Today we are worrying about municipal improvement, in particular condition of access roads to settlements, bridges and inner road network of villages. For the time being this problem is being solved locally. Unfortunately, we do not have enough financial resources to settle the problem in full, however we have to find some solutions.

Many settlements have problems with making payments. Sberbank has demonstrated a good example by creating a mobile office but the regular traffic schedule should be provided.

Currently many problems can be solved via Internet. Construction of multifunctional centres is very expensive, but rendering state services in electronic format can considerably simplify situation in rural areas. Those settlements which do not have infrastructure should have opportunity to use all necessary services.

The issue of staff training is also very important. We will do our best to work out this problem.

The problem of using minerals being in general use was also raised at the convention. There should not be any difficulties connected with it. All resources located on the territory of a municipality can be used.

We are worrying about frequent replacement of heads of settlements. It was suggested to bring in seniority and provide additional compensations. I suppose the salary level of municipal heads should not be lower than average salary in Republic.

We created the system “Electronic Tatarstan”. In half a year all municipal heads will have laptops and software products.

The system of grants will continue working, and we are ready to hear suggestions on its improvement.

I would like to name programs being realized in Tatartsan.

So, in educational sector we provided teachers with laptops and increased salaries. This year 11300 new places have been provided in kindergartens;

The program “Clean water” was launched and is currently being realized;

We continue the program on adjusting cemeteries;

The program on realizing major repair at schools is expected to be launched next year;

The program “Village club” implies construction of 50 new clubs every year in the period of three years;

One of the largest projects is major repair of housing which is meant to be realized onward. This year we received federal funds for implementing the programs “Available environment” and energy saving;

3,9 bln roubles will be spent for modernization of health care industry this year, 4 bln roubles - next year;

The program of road construction provided roads with hard covering for about 70 settlements.

All planned programs are connected with our financial resources. Today Tatarstan is one of the largest Russian regions, this year gross regional product will make 1,2 trillion roubles. By 2016 we expect having 2 trillion roubles. 10-11 % of gross regional product is our own incomings. Surely, we focus on existing federal programs, but we have to earn our own money. Thus, our goal is to increase our incomings twice.

The program of social and economic development has been approved. It explains details of our development.
First of all, our main advantage is oil production. Within 30 years we will be producing oil at the present rates. Moreover, we have great resources of bitumen. Our task is to double volumes of petrochemical production.

The second important sector is gas chemistry. We started constructing the plant “Ammony” on the territory of Mendeleevsk region.

KAMAZ is the leader in mechanical engineering in the country. Buses are to be produced at the plant. Moreover, a manufacture on producing agricultural machinery will be launched next year.
The next project in automobile industry is SP Sollers and Ford.

Besides, new plant of diesel engines, and a lot of enterprises on producing auto components will be built in SEZ “Alabuga”. Special economic zone is a serious potential of our Republic. It already has 20 residents that are to invest 70 bln roubles within three years.

We export 50 % of our products and we have to keep our position in the world market. If we do not create new modern enterprises and modernize existing plants, we will lose markets and jobs. That is why we put much emphasis on education, gained the status of one federal and two national research institutes.

For sure, the village plays an important role for us. It is not just the place for making agricultural production, but our traditions, language and history. We strive for making rural life similar to urban. To realize it we have to solve a set of social problems and provide work for people. We have to work using integrated approach without missing details.

Summing up, I would like to say that we hope for your support and will give feedback on our part.