Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a working meeting with the Governor of Krasnoyarsk Territory, Alexander Khloponin
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Alexander Khloponin: Mr Putin, allow me to report back to you. At present, the situation in Krasnoyarsk has improved. Although we initially experienced a sharp decline, we have now stabilised. Here are the changes in industrial production. Many industries here found themselves in a very difficult situation. Initially, we saw a severe decline in the energy sector, manufacturing, agriculture and construction. Today we are seeing improvement. I think that we are currently stabilising the situation.
Here are the chief unemployment indicators. Although the unemployment soared to 52,000 by May, now we have reduced it to 43,000.
Vladimir Putin: Do you have a programme in place?
Alexander Khloponin: Yes. Of course we do. We were one of the first to put this kind of programme in place. About 36,000 people here are benefiting from this programme, which entails providing temporary work and support for small and medium sized businesses. We are actively engaged in this programme.
One issue for us is the problem of unpaid wages. Krasnoyarsk Airlines' notorious liquidity and bankruptcy problems are what have made this such a big problem. Of the 240 million owed to workers, 96% is due to businesses going bankrupt. We need to come up with a system allowing us to redeem assets in order to pay people what they're owed. We are doing everything we can to help people. We have adopted a Territory-wide programme that allows us to support people even in these kinds of situation. For example, by helping people who have taken out a mortgage and people who are finding it hard to pay for housing and utilities.
According to our estimate, the situation is sufficiently stable. I think that we will do well this year. Also, of course, the development of the massive Vankor deposits will be of great help to us next year, since it means more than 10 billion in taxes for the budget.
The price for non-ferrous metals has improved somewhat. Therefore I think we will be fine next year.
Vladimir Putin: How are preparations for winter going?
Alexander Khloponin: Today, we've covered 89% of power generating capacity and grid. I think that at present everything is going smoothly. But in connection with the recent tragedy, we are currently re-distributing about 2,600 megawatts to other territories.
We understand that we need to support industry, otherwise it will grind to a halt. That is clear, and that is why we have approached the Federal Service for Supervision of Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management (Rostekhnadzor), and asked them to work with us to carry out additional inspections on sites at all generating facilities, to examine each grid in painstaking detail, and to require that each large company institute a system of inspections at each power plant. Because if something were to go wrong, God forbid, then there would be new difficulties. That is why we have set up response centres for each generating capacity: one for the South to offer assistance, and the second in Krasnoyarsk.
Vladimir Putin: Good.
