Mikhail Kalmatsky
At the most recent Government meeting, the ministers addressed the effectiveness of regional governments. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin indicated that last year, about 440 billion roubles of regional budgetary resources were spent ineffectively, which accounts for almost 10% of the regions' total expenditures. The cabinet will evaluate the state of affairs in the regions based on such criteria as population income growth, the state of the education and healthcare systems, and the housing and utilities sector. The better performing regions will be rewarded and the poor performers will be censured.
The most successful are those regions that follow the central authorities' policies in rapidly implementing social reforms and reorganising the housing and utilities sector. "The more actively a region is introducing new methods, the higher the doctors' and teachers' salaries are, and the better the quality of the social services. This means that the Government's recommended policies are justified, and experience on the ground has proven it."
Experience has also demonstrated that there are much fewer effectively working regions than those lagging behind. Mr Putin said that in 2007, only seven regions introduced insurance-based health care and only 26 regions completed transition to a per capita school financing system. "It still takes around half a year or longer to obtain a construction license, and in 10 regions, the term has even increased," the Prime Minister remarked, adding angrily, "In the Stavropol Region, it takes seven months to get a construction license, in the Vladimir Region - 10 months, and in the Saratov Region - a whole year!"
To remedy the situation, the federal Government has decided to stimulate the high performers financially. "Starting this year, the regions that have been successfully reforming will receive a total of 2 billion roubles from the federal budget as a bonus," Mr Putin said. He did stress, at the same time, that the central authorities will not be dictating to the regions how they should be fulfilling their responsibilities. According to the Constitution, this falls within their competence. "Still, the federal Government has a right to condition the amount of financial assistance provided to the regions on the level of their effectiveness, and we should and will take advantage of this right," the Prime Minister said.