Prime Minister Mishustin complained about the terrible sight in Magadan

Mikhail Mishustin on July 24 began a four-day tour of the regions of Russia. The prime minister’s agenda includes the development of small towns, tourism and industry in Siberia and the Far East. On Monday, the head of the Cabinet visited Vladivostok for the first time since taking office. In the capital of Primorye, Mishustin charged young architects with boundless creativity and courage, and at the same time shared his impressions of visiting places where the landscaping specialist has never set foot.

“The Time of the Brave” is also about architecture. And it is not so important what will be built in the end: a residential building, an office center made of timber or a playground for walking and training pets. The main thing is that people like it and do not want to move to the metropolis.

– Now is the time when you can implement bold creative solutions and change the face of small towns in Russia. To make them more comfortable, modern for residents and, of course, attractive for our guests, for tourists, – said the Prime Minister, speaking at the plenary session of the forum “Development of Small Towns and Historical Settlements”.

It is on small towns that the main focus is now. They, as the head of the Cabinet noted, are the backbone of a large country. This thesis even became the slogan of the forum and the eponymous competition for the best improvement project, launched by Vladimir Putin in 2018.

– They (small towns – “MK”) are a significant majority, and they reflect the diversity of Russia, preserve its culture, history, traditions, make a significant contribution to the country’s economy. It is these cities that form the framework of our country from Anadyr to Baltiysk, from Pevek to Derbent, – Mishustin listed numerous pearls on the map of Russia.

Mikhail Mishustin called improving the life of the population of small towns a strategic priority for the state. The main issue here is housing.

The prime minister said that over the past six months of 2023, more than 52 million square meters have already been commissioned. meters of housing. Large-scale lending programs are being implemented – both preferential and family mortgages. During the first half of the year, banks have already issued about 300,000 such loans to people. But by decision of the head of state, the program is extended until the middle of next year.

Emergency housing will be a thing of the past. In any case, this is the goal. Over the next two years, everything that was recognized as emergency before January 1, 2017 must either be overhauled and reconstructed, or replaced with new houses. Of course, it will take a lot of money, but it was decided not to spare them.

The prize fund of the competition for the best improvement of small towns and historical settlements alone should double this year, to 20 billion rubles. As a result, each winner will receive at least 100 million rubles for the implementation of their project.

But the authorities of Primorye went even further, turning the region into a real stronghold of architectural democracy. According to Governor Oleg Kozhemyako, ordinary residents can now receive grants and create whatever their heart desires in their yards.

– People create their own yards, playgrounds and public gardens. This is a plan for small, quick victories,” the governor said, adding that the region had already allocated 280 million rubles for such public improvement. The result is obvious: if earlier only Vladivostok pulled out the entire region in the improvement rating, now five cities in Primorye have reached a confident plus in the comfortable urban environment index.

What worries the architects and designers themselves is the rules for building and landscaping the space around houses in particular, and in cities in general. So far, the formula “who goes to the forest, who goes to the firewood” is working here.

Architects are creative people. When a brand new park or playground rests against a concrete fence or is adjacent to a mountain of garbage, for them it is almost a physical pain. For the Prime Minister, it seems, too.

– When you are trying to create a square and suddenly there is a concrete fence nearby, it is very sad. The worst thing is when we talk about a beautiful object, and there is a lot of garbage nearby. For example, Magadan. Nagaevskaya bay, beauty, seagulls. But the ships buried in the sea nearby are terrible. It was cheaper to flood them than to dispose of them. It’s scary,” Mikhail Mishustin shared his feelings.

Young participants of the educational platform Architects.rf caught Mishustin on the sidelines and decided not to let him go. They showed their projects – most of all, the Prime Minister was interested in the project of grounds for walking and training dogs. The author is a young architect from Moscow named Artem.

“A wonderful project,” Mishustin admitted. – To be honest, an unexpected idea for a dog walking space. We have about 40% of people one way or another have pets. This was a discovery for me today.

Mishustin also noted ideas in the field of wooden housing construction: “In just a few years, it has come to the forefront in our country, overtaking even Western standards. In the last five years, a real boom in wooden housing construction has been observed in Russia.”

– Wooden housing construction is amazing, I would even say, the flower of housing construction in terms of both ecology and beautiful places. A huge number of people would like to live in wooden houses. Wood can also be used to build office space, to build entire neighborhoods, the prime minister said.

According to Mishustin, an important decision has now been made in Russia – a ban on the export of “round timber” has been introduced. That is, now wooden housing construction can become a completely internal matter of our country, without a crooked scheme with the purchase of exorbitantly expensive logs and boards from trees that are ready for construction, which we ourselves cut down and sent somewhere abroad for processing.

– Continuous export is a shame when other technologies work on our wealth. We can handle wood processing ourselves,” the head of government assured.