Komsomolskaya Pravda: "Putin instructs Bashkiria to be the best"
The prime minister learned a secret about American pigs from the Voronezh regional governor.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a working meeting with Rustem Khamitov, the head of the Republic of Bashkiria.
The officials discussed large-scale projects, including the modernisation of the Novo-Ufimsky Oil Refinery, the construction of new facilities, such as a combined heat and power station, residential areas, the M5 Ural and M7 Volga motorways, and the reconstruction of the landing strip and lighting equipment at the Ufa airport.
"If all these projects are successfully implemented, which I do not doubt, Bashkortostan will once again reaffirm its reputation as one of Russia's leading industrial centres," Putin said.
Khamitov told the prime minister that the metallurgical facility in Beloretsk, which is being built under a programme for single-industry towns, will create 2,000 jobs.
"It will be a highly sophisticated modern plant for producing cast iron, which is in high demand in the industry today," the republic's head said, and went on discussing plans about the development of housing construction.
Last year, Bashkiria built 2 million square metres of housing. The mortgage interest rate in the republic is maintained at between 8% and 9%. For this, 500 million roubles were set aside last year and 1 billion roubles will be allocated this year.
"An important highway, Moscow-Samara-Chelyabinsk, passes through our republic and we are extending this highway to four lanes and even six lanes in some sections within the Republic of Bashkortostan to ease traffic on this important transport artery," Khamitov said.
Putin agreed.
A bit later, the prime minister held a meeting with Voronezh Regional Governor Alexei Gordeyev. They discussed the development of animal husbandry, particularly, pig breeding which, according to the prime minister, is well developed in the region.
"We have done particularly well with pork production," Gordeyev confessed. "But keep it a secret for the time being. I'd like you to visit us this summer. Our investors helped us bring in a major pedigree stock of Aberdeen-Angus from the United States – 1,500 head. The stock has excellent genes and is one of the world's best. Now we have it here in our region."
"You kept it a secret!" the prime minister said with a smile.
Putin added that it would not remain a secret for long after being captured on the TV cameras.
"Well, now we can talk about it," Gordeyev replied grinning.
"Utility tariffs are one of the worst headaches," Putin said. "What is Voronezh doing in this regard?"
The governor said that the region's government is firm on not letting the tariffs rise above 15%.
"No more than 15%? You are responsible for this, aren't you?" the prime minister asked.
"Sure, I oversee everything, and I am responsible for this," the governor said.
Larisa Kaftan
