“You can’t keep half-empty territories without developing”: how to help the Far East

According to the president, additional funding should be attracted for the modernization and renewal of the cities of the Far East. We are talking about five billion rubles a year. “All our decisions in the economy, in the social sphere, all the mechanisms that we are implementing in the Far East are aimed at the main thing – to make this region a truly attractive place to live, study, work, to create new families here, to have more children . The funds should go to the development of the urban area, infrastructure, including the renewal of existing networks and communications,” the head of Russia noted. It must be said that this is not the first attempt by the Russian government to breathe new life into the Far East. Several state programs are aimed at the development of the Far East Federal District, including the so-called “Far Eastern Hectare”. There are changes in the region, but they are not as obvious as we would like…

The head of state also touched upon the topic of tourism in his message: According to Putin, the issue of creating large sea resorts, where up to 10 million people could rest a year, should be discussed. The President proposed to create new large resorts on the coast of the Azov, Baltic, Caspian and Black Seas, as well as Primorye.

MK spoke about the advantages and problems of the Far East head of the “Political Expert Group” Konstantin Kalachev:

“The main problem of the Far East is depopulation, the departure of the population. People do not see prospects, do not see the future, they leave in all directions, – the expert believes. – I myself was born in Primorsky Krai, so I know the situation firsthand. Repeatedly promised to make the Far East an attractive place to live, but after so many years, the population is growing in only one region – in Yakutia. The development of the Far East has faced big problems. For example, take the same Sakhalin. Yes, of course, hydrocarbons, but now, taking into account international turbulence and sanctions, even Sakhalin, which was and is a donor for the federal budget, has also faced problems – let alone such regions as Kamchatka, for example. The question arises how not just to secure people and force them to stay in the Far East, but how to create conditions for them to stay not because there is no way out, but because this is a territory of opportunities.”

– Can this situation be changed somehow?

– People in Primorsky Krai are used to going to Korea for treatment, where medicine is better and cheaper, to buy right-hand drive, but reliable cars from Japan. Due to foreign relations, small and medium-sized businesses, the East somehow lived.

Now there are large infrastructure projects, but they do not always create jobs for local residents. It is possible to build another port in Vladivostok, but if guest workers build it, then what will the residents of Vladivostok do? What does it matter to them that the roads will be built by the Chinese or the Kyrgyz? Vladivostok and the entire Far East should be given more rights and economic freedom to solve their problems on the spot.

Yes, federal assistance is needed, but it shouldn’t create more problems than it solves. Because when you think about the development of the Far East, you need to consult with local residents and take into account their interests. Not just to make the region a “development zone” for big business, but to take into account the interests of the people living there and build on them, to make the region attractive for living, studying, and working. There should be good medicine, well-paid jobs, developed infrastructure.

So far, all those solutions in the economy, those mechanisms that have been proposed, have not demonstrated high efficiency, as evidenced by the outflow of the population. But the fact that Vladimir Putin considers the region a priority is good. The main thing is that it does not turn out like Chernomyrdin: “We wanted the best, but it turned out as always.”

As for the migration influx to the Far East that Putin is talking about, I would not exaggerate it. I don’t know people who move en masse. The Far Eastern Hectare program is not working as it should. Let’s start with the fact that tickets from Moscow to the Far East should be inexpensive. First of all, you need to solve the problems of logistics. I will say that I do not fully share the president’s optimism.

“So far, the prospects for the Far East are contradictory,” believes political scientist Sergei Markov. On the one hand, there are great opportunities. And Putin is absolutely right: the huge Pacific economic region has been rapidly developing nearby for several decades. There are growth rates of 5 to 10 percent per year.

But, on the other hand, we practically do not participate in this. Our people are fleeing from the Far East, and the main reason has remained the same: the passivity of the authorities. We still rely on the IMF, on its idea that the main thing is the “hand of the market”, which will decide everything and do everything. This is a gross mistake, it does not happen. We need big government projects.

There are businesses – small, medium and large. And it is built around these projects, or, alternatively, complete economic freedom. Then they will also come there and do business there, but this freedom also happens at the expense of something – relatively speaking, they can register and not pay taxes to the budget.

The state does not provide either one or the other. It is impossible to keep half-empty territories indefinitely and not develop them. Sooner or later this vacuum will be filled.

We have several interesting projects. This is a fully state-owned shipbuilding plant “Zvezda”, the Vostochny cosmodrome and Russky Island with its infrastructure, several airports. But there should be fifteen times more such projects. If the policy towards the Far East is not changed, then the stagnation will be aggravated.”

– What do you think about the development of tourism in the regions of the Russian Federation?

– The prospects for the development of Russian tourism in the Caucasus are huge. What is the advantage of Dagestan? There is a sea there. We have a huge northern country, and people want to relax at the sea as much as possible. Crimea, Sochi and the Caucasus in Soviet times were year-round due to economic incentives – in other words, vouchers in the low season were given to people much cheaper, but at the same time there was a load. There was a very good model, everything was fine, but the market came and ruined everything.

How do you think this model can be restored?

– Now, in order for them to become year-round again, it is necessary either to return powerful subsidies, which is unlikely to happen, or to reorient them from “dancing, barbecue and wine” to restoring health. Open not boarding houses, but sanatoriums. And this should also be a major state program, the construction of sanatoriums should be subsidized.

I would create a large state corporation that would rebuild sanatoriums and operate them. This would bring huge profits to the economy – when people are in good health, they work better, they do not go on sick leave. We have departmental sanatoriums, we just need to return their volumes to Soviet times.

But effective managers who calculate profit only in a short format will not allow this to be done. Therefore, the transition of resorts to year-round is one of the main strategic priorities, and, frankly, I did not hear this at the meeting of the State Council. What I heard, and what is right, is the construction of infrastructure. Albeit late, but it has arrived.