Prime Minister Vladimir Putin explains to developers what economy housing is all about.
Yesterday, the residents of the Znamya Pobedy village applauded Putin for his implementation of state-financed housing projects. People in the Rodniki building estate, located in the village of Znamya Oktyabrya in the Podolsk District, were waiting for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to arrive all day.
However, this only strengthened the sentiment among residents of this comfortable place. Putin arrived on a helicopter from Kolomna, where he was dealing with the fire situation. "I looked from the air – it's a nice view," he said on arrival. His remark applied not only to Rodniki but also to Kuznechiki (Grasshoppers). Army servicemen will live in a district with this unusual name. There will be 75 buildings for almost half a million people.
"Thank you for coming here. We like everything very much. Everything suits us, the flats are very comfortable," the residents of Rodniki told Putin in chorus. Security guards were in the front ranks for some reason.
People were praising the new housing to the skies, as if Rodniki eventually helped them discover a normal life. Many things were unusual there – spacious playgrounds for children, artificial ponds with bridges across them, and large comfortable flats.
"We've lived here for a year and haven't seen a crack!" a woman said. Apparently, she was aware of the quality of typical Russian housing.
The prime minister left his signature on a miniature kimono – this souvenir symbolizes the activities of the local club – and stopped by a mother holding her son in her arms. He fondly patted the baby on his leg. Availing herself of the opportunity, the mother said that as the wife of an army serviceman, she'd like to receive a spacious flat like the ones in this district. "The funding is so large despite the crisis," she said, taking the words out of the prime minister's mouth. Later on, he would mention this argument at a conference on housing.
In his speech, Putin said that during the next four years, mortgages must become accessible to one quarter of Russian families; by 2015, the share of economy housing will amount to 75% of all construction; by 2016, 100 million square metres will be built every year, which will bring the construction rate to 142 million square metres per year by 2020, that is, one square metre per capita. The prime minister emphasized that economy housing will have nothing to do with "drab concrete boxes with second-rate flats." They must be eco-friendly and meet the highest standards of quality and security.
The prime minister believes that only now has the normal market demand for housing started taking shape. Some 133 billion roubles worth of mortgages were provided, which is 2.5 times more than during the relevant period of the past year. "It is very important to continue a competent strategy of development, assess all the risks, and think about the plans several steps ahead," the prime minister said.
Putin also paid attention to the mood of the people. "The residents of this building estate were not told what to say to big bosses. They simply say what they think," Putin observed.
Apparently, he got this impression from Marat Musayev, a boy who caught up with him on roller skates and joined a high-ranking delegation that apart from the prime minister included Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Moscow Region Governor Boris Gromov.
"What did you talk with Putin about?" Marat's mother asked her son. "What a daredevil! And he isn't even afraid. No restraint at all."
The delegation was followed by the residents of the district – people were following the delegation and everyone seemed happy. Two girls in light dresses were eating ice cream, mothers with prams tried to keep up with the delegation, as well as grannies and grandpas, and family couples...
"Where is he?" "Here he is in a blue shirt," said one of the kids. Considering that the prime minister arrived on a helicopter like the magician from the famous song and did so much for Rodniki, this was a timely remark.
Putin promised one more miracle – to prevent a sharp increase in prices on housing despite the rising demand. "On the whole, an analysis shows that the demand for housing is recovering even quicker than the supply, and there are risks here that we must consider," Putin said. "We should prevent all kinds of bubbles and imbalances. The mortgage system and demand stimulation were developing fast on their own, whereas the building of new housing and the capacity of the construction industry were clearly lagging behind," the prime minister said. He noted that the government cannot permanently be the main buyer of housing. Otherwise, it may "receive a distorted, monopolised structure of the market."
Yesterday, Putin held one more meeting on the fires. Alexey Savinov, head of Rosleskhoz (Federal Forestry Agency), reported that the fires were under control. Putin replied: "The problem is that such control does not suit anyone. This is unacceptable. Rosleskhoz receives 20 billion roubles every year. This is not a small sum. It could have produced the desired effect, but it doesn't."
Gromov tried to embellish the picture. He continues to insist on the watering of peat-bogs. He said that nine pipelines were laid for the purpose. All in all, there will be 14 pipelines with an aggregate length of 300 km.
"We've found the people who drained them in Soviet times, and now we want these people to water them," Gromov explained.
"They coped with the first task brilliantly. I hope they will fulfill the other one, too," Putin said.
Gromov asked Putin to resolve the issue of identifying the owners of the peat-bogs because some have had no owners since the plants were shut down. However, Yury Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, objected. He said peat-bog factories must be revived because, as a fuel, peat "may compete with gas and oil." He suggested his own plan of pumping warm, clean water from the aeration fields in Lyubertsy via big diametre, 1.5 meter pipes. Luzhkov believes that warm water with a temperature of up to 18 C will make it possible to water peat-bogs even in winter. Minister of Natural Resources Yury Trutnev objected to the mayor by saying that the country has vast reserves of gas, as well as the nuclear power industry. Putin, who inspected the process of watering peat-bogs in Kolomna, did not support any side and merely remarked: "It is important to prevent peat-bog fires in the future."
By Pierre Sidibe