Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with Governor of the Amur Region Oleg Kozhemyako
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, Mr Kozhemyako,
Today, of course, we will discuss the social and economic situation in the region. The Amur Region was not negatively affected by the crisis that reached its peak last year. In fact, its industrial production and gross regional product increased, by 9% to 10%. This is quite an achievement during a downturn.
Moreover, growth for the first two months of this year was 14% higher than for the same period of last year. The energy industry grew, the timber industry grew substantially, and there was growth in some other areas, notably housing construction and construction in general, which grew by 63% this year. This is very good.
Nevertheless, strange as it may seem, unpaid wages are increasing at the same time as the economy is growing. Unpaid wages exceeded 10 million roubles as of January 1 of this year, and now this sum has increased 150%. Fortunately, there are no unpaid wages at enterprises that receive public funding. But why are they increasing in the overall economy? Production is increasing and unpaid wages are increasing as well. Let's discuss this issue.
Also, several projects in your region are being implemented with federal support, for instance: 4.5 billion were allocated for construction and repairs on the Amur motorway, more than 100 million roubles for the reconstruction of the Lena motorway, and over 55 million roubles to modernise the Blagoveshchensk Airport. There are also drainage system and [river] bank stabilisation projects, as well as a project to shore up reclaimed land in the Amur River basin. I'd like to hear from you about the progress on these projects. Please, go ahead.
Oleg Kozhemyako: As for unpaid wages, what you said is entirely correct. On March 1, unpaid wages reached 29 million roubles. But as of April 1, the situation has begun to change. The main offenders are Rossiya, which is having problems with its shareholders, Amur Airlines and the Blagoveshchensk Distillery. Rossiya reduced its unpaid wages paying out eight million roubles. Amur Airlines paid out 400,000 roubles, and the Blagoveshchensk Distillery also paid off some of its debt. As of today, unpaid wages have fallen to 14 million roubles.
Nevertheless, I think this number will increase again because soon we will get the new numbers, which we expect will be higher than 14 million roubles but lower than 29 million.
All of these companies have assets, including liquid assets. Rossiya is on the verge of bankruptcy - it is having a huge problem with its subsidiaries. We are trying to help it. We have managed to get them out of their immediate predicament so that they no longer have debts to banks. We will continue this work. I think these administrative measures - such as the sale of assets - will help us reduce unpaid wages.
Vladimir Putin: Don't neglect this issue please. You shouldn't give the impression that this is not your business, that this is strictly an issue of economics or market problems related to the company's recovery. This should not affect your course of action.
Oleg Kozhemyako: We are working on that. We meet with them every day. We are doing exactly what you say.
Also, as far as the Blagoveshchensk Distillery: maybe it is necessary to twist some arms at VTB bank, which is the owner of this plant and has invested much into it. There is a potential investor ready to buy it out.
However, regrettably, the problem is being put off. It may be necessary to push the bank a little in order to persuade it to sell the plant at the price agreed upon with the investor. In this case it will be possible not only to pay back the unpaid wages but also resume operations and receive additional money.
We are willing to subsidise grain. This is a good project for us because the plant uses fodder grain. Maybe we will be able to resolve this problem, and we would appreciate it if you could help.
We have compelled Amur Airlines to pay off some of their unpaid wages - 434 million roubles - and we will continue monitoring them.
As for the social projects, we have provided flats for all veterans who registered before March 1, 2005. Now we are starting to give flats to the next contingent. We have already issued 300 certificates and provided 147 flats for the people in this category.
We are expecting a second tranche from the Ministry of Regional Development, which is tentatively estimated at 434 million roubles. I think we will reach the goal you set for us by the end of the year.
The construction of the federal Amur motorway is another very important project. We must finish building this road in our region by 2010. We visit these construction sites ourselves. In many sections the quality of work is very high.
The Minister of Transport is paying enough attention to this project and it is going according to plan. Preparatory work is currently in progress.
We asked the government to help us with the Lena motorway, and it met us halfway. I'm referring to the 100 million roubles we had asked for. This is a major part of the artery that links us with Yakutsk. This is good for us because almost all production sites are located in our region, including agricultural production. We have a railway there. This work is going according to plan.
We are planning to spend about 460 million roubles to stabilise the banks of the Amur River. There's no money right now, and the investor is using regional funds and loans. I believe the money will be received in the first half of the year to be paid for what they will have done.
Today we don't have any problems with federal funding. We are being paid for all that we have done. We are keeping an eye this.
As you know, we still have an acute problem with our fertility and child mortality rates. In line with the government's instructions, we are taking part in the construction of the prenatal centre, which will cost a total of 2.2 billion roubles, including 750 million from the federal budget and 1.5 billion roubles from the regional budget. We expect to complete this project this year.
It goes without saying that this project is a big burden for the regional budget, especially since we are also working with the government to build a surgery centre and a cardiovascular centre. We would appreciate it if the government could help us with some of our 1.5 billion rouble share for building the prenatal centre.
But we will finish these projects in any event, and will report as we do so.
