VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Ms Matviyenko, what can you tell me about conditions in St Petersburg?
Valentina Matviyenko: First of all, we should analyse the situation in general.
The city enjoys social and economic stability. Economic rehabilitation is gradually coming into its own after the April depression. We are fulfilling all of your welfare directives despite a tight budget, so the social situation is tolerable.
Thank you for your support with defence contracts. The situation has improved this year despite the crisis-we have partly repaid our debts, and revenue is more consistent and even greater than last year.
There are problems with payments from leading military industrial companies in other regions-they are slightly behind the schedule because our defence companies participate as subcontractors. But I think this can be settled with the Defence Ministry.
Budget-funded housing construction has maintained a good pace, and has even doubled crisis or no crisis, to provide new accommodations to World War II and other veterans.
Vladimir Putin: Allocations to St Petersburg from the Housing and Utilities Fund have increased.
Valentina Matviyenko: Yes, Mr Putin. We are grateful for this support. You know how many buildings in St Petersburg demand urgent repairs. We will repair 1,200 buildings with the monies from the municipal budget and the Fund.
The energy companies are ready for the cold season. We started heating on Monday with the exception of a hundred buildings, which have radiators problems -large cities always have such problems, you know. I hope they will be ready within the week. The weather is warm enough now, so it is not a big headache. What matters more is that the key energy companies as well as the Energy Ministry all keep abreast of the situation. We were ready to report at the conference call you chaired yesterday.
Large-scale maintenance projects on the power grid, on public electric supplies and some modernisation have been concluded. The Losinoostrovskaya thermal power plant has received a new turbine. A 330 kV substation is being built in the city centre to put an end to its problems.
Two 110 kV substations have opened this year. All told, ten substations have been built within five years, and another six are under construction. There had been a break in these projects since the 1990s, so the city was short of electricity with a lack of transmission facilities.
As the Energy Minister said on the conference call, St Petersburg has dropped off the list of regions with electricity shortages. We are implementing the programme Mr Anatoly Chubais and I signed, and you supported. The project proceeds in fits and starts due to the crisis but, anyway, the city no longer has an energy crisis.
Vladimir Putin: So you have built it all in a matter of three years?
Valentina Matviyenko: Yes, ten 110 kV substations and one 330 kV.
Vladimir Putin: Or did it take you four years?
Valentina Matviyenko: That's more precise-four years. Electric power supplies have become more consistent and safer, especially with the large, 330 kV station. The situation was really critical before. Now, the city power system is out of the crisis stage. Every year, we spend large sums on maintenance, modernisation and development because there is no economic development and no investment without upgrading the infrastructure, which is our principal goal.
We continue work on our ambitious infrastructure projects-the ring road and the dam. City transport is improving before our eyes.
I want to thank you for your support of this essential project once again. The Western High-Speed Toll Beltway is also under construction on your decision. We have had two tenders for its next two stages, both with major concessions-22% for one, and 30% for the other.
Vladimir Putin: But the latest safety standards for underground tunnels in the dam will make the project much more expensive.
Valentina Matviyenko: Yes, Mr Putin, our construction standards are very strict, though I think they should be modernised and aligned with European standards.
Vladimir Putin: Oh no, I mean the latest standards.
Valentina Matviyenko: Such projects are always hazardous, so safety comes first-but then, construction has taken very long and should be finished, at last. In this, we should not overstep the financial limits. Anyway, I am sure the ring road and the dam will be ready next year, as you have said. I mean, more than 90% of the work, which is essential for the city, will be done in 2010. A small part of the job-adjusting and start-up-will remain for the first half of 2011.
Vladimir Putin: I heard a report about the tunnel yesterday. I was told it would not be ready before 2011.
Valentina Matviyenko: By 2011 the last work on the project will be completed...
Vladimir Putin: Taking into account the additional safety and fire-prevention work?
Valentina Matviyenko: Yes. This has, of course, complicated the work. But we have come to terms with this. There is a determination to complete the work, so it will be very important.
Regarding the Western High-Speed Toll Beltway - Mr Putin, we understand the difficulties with the federal and municipal budgets. But in order for us to finish building the ring road by 2014 as directed, we need private investment and we need to look for new ways to attract private investment.
Together with the Finance Ministry, we are currently working very actively on issuing infrastructure bonds and we've made headway. We understand that this is possible - investors are ready to invest. We plan to issue around 25 billion roubles worth of infrastructure bonds. The federal budget stipulates around 90 billion roubles backed by state guarantees. If the appropriate Government resolution is issued before the end of the year and we are able to issue these bonds, then we will quickly resume construction along the entire length of the Western High-Speed Toll Beltway.
In 2011 we will complete the connection of the port and its various sections with the Western High-Speed Toll Beltway. Then we will be able to divert freight transport from the city limits and more importantly we will be able to fully support the traffic generated by the total operational capacity of the seaport, which is of national importance. Freight will leave the port and directly access the national highway system.
But regardless of the budgetary problems, we cannot stop. Infrastructure bonds are a highly effective way to attract private investment. Furthermore, we want to open a toll road by the end of 2010. This will be a source of revenue that will also help attract private investors - the fact that the road itself can generate revenue.
The Finance Ministry will report to you on the progress. I ask you for your support. If we can manage it by the end of the year, then in 2010, we can attract private investment and continue the energetic construction pace along the entire length of the Western High-Speed Toll Beltway.
This year, we are using the budget exactly as we planned it. We have precisely synchronised economic development with the budget plan. And we are happy about this, Mr Putin - tax revenue has increases thanks to small and medium-sized businesses, as incredible as it may seem in these crisis conditions.
This period saw 16,500 more small and medium-sized businesses appear. That's only this year. In other words, people who lost their jobs for whatever reason came to understand that they should open their own businesses.
We have the requisite conditions, and there are many programmes to support small and medium-sized businesses. We opened the House of the Entrepreneur, where new business people can get any advice they need. Training is in progress. Together with the Economic Development Ministry, we have been issuing various grants. Joint programmes to support small business are operating very efficiently. These programmes include subsidised interest rates and lease discounts. We have reduced the rates for utility connection and utility use by 50%. And there are many other programmes. These have, of course, supported small and medium-sized business very well, and the number of jobs at small and medium-sized businesses has grown by 90,000.
We have low unemployment rate. If before the crisis, we had 0.8% unemployment, it is still only 1.1% now. This is around 28,000 people, and this given the fact that we have 52,000 vacancies in the city.
Vladimir Putin: Good.
Valentina Matviyenko: So the labour market is balanced. The programmes to support the labour market that were approved by the Russian Government also helped, also played their role. We allocated funds towards retraining, requalification, re-education of skilled workers, job placement and creation of temporary jobs. This, of course, as a whole, has helped.
And it should also be mentioned that consumer price growth rates this year, as strange as it may seem in a crisis, are slower than last year. On average, from January to September, this growth was 7.8%. This is even somewhat lower than inflation. In August, we actually had deflation for the first time in our city.
During this period, the birth rate increased by more than 11%. This is higher than last year's figure. Last year, the birth rate grew by 10%, and in nine months of this year, it grew 11%.
One thing we are happy to see is that the death rate has decreased by 4%. Progressively. We have the lowest infant mortality rate, and it is comparable to European figures. But the general death rate is also falling. This is also the result of our plans, national projects and the attention given to public health.
So, on the whole, the situation in the city is stable and manageable. Certainly, some companies are having difficulties and there are problems...
Vladimir Putin: I understand that we will now discuss these problems?
Valentina Matviyenko: Let's proceed.
Vladimir Putin: Good.
