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: Mr Levitin, you will soon celebrate your ministry's anniversary - Russia's Transport Ministry will be 200 years old.
In this context I would like to congratulate you and all other transport workers on this forthcoming event, and wish you every success.
It goes without saying that today we will discuss your ministry's work in the run-up to this event. I would like you to start with major projects, primarily social ones. I am referring to subsidized shipments to Russia's Far East. We have agreed on certain rules and figures, and I instructed you to continue this work in 2010.
Igor Levitin: Thank you for your support for the transport industry, and for transport education. They are both turning 200 years old. The first institute - the engineering school in St Petersburg - was established 200 years ago by the same decree as the department.
I would like to report that we have completed our programme to provide special rates for flights to the Far East. All in all, about 160,000 people took advantage of the programme. Despite the overall fall in air traffic in Russia (in our estimate by about 10%-11%), the number of flights to the Far East has grown. This shows that two population groups - people younger than 23 and people older than 60 - have taken advantage of our special fares. We have fulfilled our promise. Seven airlines took part in this programme.
In 2010 in line with your instructions, we are going to submit to the Government a proposal to add several other routes to the existing list, first of all between Kyzyl and Krasnoyarsk, because it is only possible to travel in and out of Tyva by air, and between Norilsk and Moscow. This was your instruction...
Vladimir Putin: That is what the city's residents asked for.
Igor Levitin: Yes, and we made a promise. We would also like to give people in the Far East the opportunity to go on holiday in the Primorye Territory, in Vladivostok, and work to link that city with Kamchatka, Magadan and Yakutsk. This will allow them to spend holidays in their native Primorye Territory.
We would also like to introduce an additional route for Yakutia, which is only accessible by air. Both the president of Yakutia and the presidential envoy there asked us to organize flights inside Sakha (Yakutia). This will require special aircraft.
I think the Superjet programme is just right for flights in the Far East. When this aircraft was first introduced, we worked with Aeroflot to launch a relevant programme. We can organize regional air traffic in the Far East.
You have issued instructions concerning this matter. We believe that more people will take advantage of this opportunity next year because they will have more time to get ready to go. Also in line with your instructions, we have extended the time period for this programme - now it will start in late March and end in late October.
We believe that up to 50% more people will fly because they will have more time to get ready.
You have also instructed us to consider ways to encourage carriers along these routs to use Russian-made aircraft. We suggest discussing this in the Government. In planning such flights, we usually establish quotas for seating assignments depending on the number of seats. Now we suggest eliminating quotas on seats on Russians aircraft, and selling tickets without any restrictions.
In other words, all tickets for flights on Russian aircraft can be sold for reduced fare without any restrictions.
We hope that this will also support our country's aircraft construction industry, which is now starting to produce regional airliners.
Vladimir Putin: How's work going on the Vladivostok airport?
Igor Levitin: We will soon begin extending the runway in Vladivostok, where you have been. It will be extended by 1,000 metres. Also, we are submitting blueprints for renovating the terminal to Rosexpertiza.
Following your directive, the Russian Railways and the Ministry of Transport are considering the possibility of making the airport accessible by railway. We will need to extend the railway line to the airport. Russian Railways is working on this project.
Vladimir Putin: The distance between them is...
Igor Levitin: About 70 kilometres...
Vladimir Putin: Right, between 60 and 70.
Igor Levitin: It will allow us to make the Vladivostok airport more accessible.
Vladimir Putin: What about subsidising the shipment of motor vehicles to the Far East and back?
Igor Levitin: This programme is under way. According to our data, over 2,500 vehicles have been shipped to the Far East. The Ministry of Transport has put forward a proposal to use the same method to ship vehicles from the Far East to the European part of Russia in 2010, and have the government subsidy the costs.
Vladimir Putin: This has to be done, given the construction of new production facilities in the Far East. A new factory must be able to sell its products in the Far East and in the European part of Russia.
Igor Levitin: We have submitted our proposal to the Government.
Vladimir Putin: Is everything in order as far as the bridge being constructed there?
Igor Levitin: Everything is going according to plan. Since your visit to the Far East, all the schedules we reported to you are being strictly followed.
Vladimir Putin: Good. Has the ring road around Sochi been finished?
Igor Levitin: The ring road has been finished, and we would like to invite you to visit it if you have time. It is a modern motorway. Its final leg has been finished.
The construction of the ring road started in the 1990s. The proposal was worked out in 1996, and construction began in 1998. We have made significant strides every year since 2004, and we recently completed the project's longest tunnel, which has a total length of 2.5 kilometres, longer than the Krasnaya Polyana tunnel.
We are planning to commission this highway at the end of this month. This will ease the traffic congestion in the city caused by construction.
Vladimir Putin: I plan to visit Sochi and the Far East this year. You and I have also discussed the construction of a highway in Kaliningrad; this project must be continued. You promised to prepare proposals on other infrastructure facilities as well. Let's discuss this in more detail, including the bridges issue. Eighteen bridges are about to be commissioned.
Igor Levitin: Not all of them are ready yet.
Vladimir Putin: But we agreed that a targeted programme is needed to reconstruct bridges built 30 to 50 years ago.
Igor Levitin: Several bridges were built back in the Soviet times, and they do not meet modern standards. We are keeping a special eye on them. Also, several older bridges need urgent repairs.
I would like to thank you for a recent decision by the Government. We are now allowed to carry out long-term repairs, in other words sign three-year contracts on bridge repairs. Companies can now take part in long-term projects using their own equipment.
This programme has been planed for the period from 2010 to 2015. We will also request that the Government adjust construction standards in order to allow companies to use new materials and technologies to construct bridges. This will allow us to reduce construction costs.
Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you.
