Viktor Ishayev, Minister for the Development of the Far East and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, said at a press conference in Moscow that the draft government programme has been submitted to ministries and departments for approval. Mr Ishayev also said that the draft has already been discussed at a meeting of the Public Council at the Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Far Eastern Civic Chamber. The draft is scheduled to be adopted by the Government on March 21.
The document is based on the targeted federal programme The Far East and the Baikal Region, to be carried out through 2018, and the federal targeted programme Development of the Kuril Islands, to be carried out through 2015. The government programme will include 12 more sub-programmes. The programme provides for expanding the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Baikal-Amur Railway and the Arctic Sea Route, as well as connecting Sakhalin to the mainland, building a Trans-Korean Railway, a motorway from Chita to Khabarovsk and from Vladivostok to Khabarovsk and a road from Yakutia to Chukotka.
According to the Minister, the amount of investment in the region will grow by 340% by 2025 and 15 million square metres of housing will be built there every year. Average life expectancy is projected to reach 72.5 years, and the region's population will grow to 1.6 million people. The average salary in the region will be 30% higher than the Russian average.
Over three trillion roubles will be allocated from the federal budget for the government programme Socioeconomic Development of the Russian Far East and the Baikal Region to 2025. The Minister said that federal funds should have a multiplier effect and that every rouble from the budget is matched by about 5 roubles from extrabudgetary funds.
