2 march, 2009 16:39
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Governor of the Astrakhan Region Alexander Zhilkin
Vladimir Putin: Good evening. How are things going in Astrakhan?
Alexander Zhilkin: For starters, I can say that the situation is stable.
Vladimir Putin: We had several concerns: the engineering protection of the city, moving people out of decrepit and unsafe homes, drinking water, and gasification.
Alexander Zhilkin: In comparison with last year's results, we have made progress in all these areas, especially with your support and the support of the Government. We came to grips with the main problem in our region, which has a history dating back several centuries. As you know, the problems are decrepit and unsafe housing and water-logging. The programme got off to a good start, and people's mood immediately changed. This year, UNESCO put the Astrakhan Kremlin on its tentative list of world heritage sites.
The results of 2008 are fairly good; the GDP is up 108.5% and all sectors have performed well. Of course, there are also social problems.
Three years ago you noted the fairly high level of child mortality. It was 11% in the region, and now it is down to 8.4%. Last year, for the first time in the last 27 years, births exceeded deaths by a factor of 0.6. I reckon that the rate of growth will be sustained in 2009. Due to the implementation of national projects, life expectancy reached 68.5 years in 2008.
Vladimir Putin: Have you launched the medical centre?
Alexander Zhilkin: Yes, we have. It is launching major operations - as of March 10, 6,500 operations a year, which also means additional jobs. We now have a staff of 700, and modern equipment.
Vladimir Putin: Where did your doctors come from?
Alexander Zhilkin: The majority of our practicing surgeons come from the central regions, St Petersburg, Novorossiisk, and even from abroad - we have some people from Israel and Canada. The Medical Academy is very active in training its own staff and specialists.
Vladimir Putin: Where will they live?
Alexander Zhilkin: The regional budget has allocated 120 million roubles to buy very good apartments for them. I also asked them to teach at the Academy so that we could open two chairs in these fields, a cardiologic chair and one for other diseases. We have opened 18 high-tech medical centres in the region with the help of the Russian Ministry of Health.
Vladimir Putin: So, you will have an Astrakhan cardiac centre that will maintain relations...
Alexander Zhilkin: The cardiac centre will cater to southern Russia. In addition, we have offered our services to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, both of which are considering the option of sending their patients for treatment at this centre, as it is only a 40-minute trip by air.
In addition, we will launch a second, 2.7-billion rouble regional medical centre in July or perhaps early August. It will be a diagnostic and surgical centre. Basically, the region will have all the high-tech medical care it needs and will be able to perform any operations.
Vladimir Putin: You will complete construction in July?
Alexander Zhilkin: The centre opening in July-early August will be purely regional. As I said, four years ago life expectancy here was 63 years, and now it is 68.5 years. Before we started performing heart surgery, heart diseases alone claimed 1,500-1,800 lives. In 2009, that indicator is going down and life expectancy is growing.
Vladimir Putin: Let us return to the subject of unsafe housing. How is the work of moving people to safer alternatives going?
Alexander Zhilkin: As you know, we had a programme underway for two years (2007-2008) based on the decision of the Government made at the time of the 450th anniversary of Astrakhan. The federal budget disbursed 2 billion roubles every year. It enabled us, in spite of the massive rise in prices during that period, to provide new housing for 5,000 families.
At the end of the year we faced a technological problem. Because of some infrastructure constraints, we chose not to be rush and build empty boxes without engineering lines. In April, we will move 2200 families to 16 apartment houses. We will complete the two-year programme in late May, early June.
As you know and as you have seen, this is the main problem in the Astrakhan region today. It is more acute even than all the other problems connected with the crisis, with which we are coping quite successfully.
Vladimir Putin: You expect to resettle 2,000 families in April?
Alexander Zhilkin: We will have 16 new houses in April. Each house has 100-110 flats, so we are resettling a large number of families. And we had to clear the sites and build the engineering lines, which were non-existent.
Vladimir Putin: There are still no service lines?
Alexander Zhilkin: All the service lines are now in place, which is why we failed to commission the houses before the end of the year as I had intended to.
Vladimir Putin: I should come over and have a look.
Alexander Zhilkin: By all means, I am inviting you.
Vladimir Putin: What is the drinking water situation?
Alexander Zhilkin: As for drinking water, we are still working on the same programme, but it is coming along well. Considering that 2009-2010 have been proclaimed to be the years of rural areas in the region, infrastructure and some social facilities will be upgraded.
However, let me say that over the past two years, we have repaired 86 of our 328 schools under the National Education Project. We have built two new schools and are launching one more this year. We are about to complete everything that the overall project envisages in terms of drinking water. We are working closely with the Government to continue the programme because ours is a drought-prone region and it is very dangerous to live without clean drinking water. It can cause all sorts of diseases.
Vladimir Putin: Is the musical theatre functioning?
Alexander Zhilkin: The musical theatre is not yet functioning. It has a roof, but I must confess that we are simply short of funds.
Vladimir Putin: When will you finish it?
Alexander Zhilkin: We are planning to finish it this year, by autumn. Shortage of funds is a problem, but we will solve it.
