The Prime Minister spoke at a forum’s plenary session and toured the exhibition.
Mikhail Mishustin’s remarks at the plenary session
Mikhail Mishustin’s remarks at the plenary session:
Good afternoon, friends and colleagues.
I’m pleased to welcome you to the Forum on Developing Small Towns and Historical Settlements, which has become a meeting point for professionals engaging in urban planning, landscaping, architecture, and design, as well as representatives from federal, regional, and municipal authorities.
Each year, the forum is held in different cities, which allows us to showcase how our country and its smaller communities are changing and becoming more beautiful and comfortable places to live.
During the forum, we invariably focus on issues that are crucial for small towns. Last year, we dedicated the entire forum to such towns and the important part they play in Russia. After all, every ninth citizen lives in such towns, and every third Russian lives in the areas around such towns. Five times more large families live in these towns and areas compared to the metropolitan areas.
That is why My Family is Russia is the main theme of today’s event.
The President places particular emphasis on the role of the family in the life of the country, stressing that almost everything the government is doing and deciding upon revolves around families and children. This applies to various sectors, including education, healthcare, the economy, housing development, and overall renovation of our cities, towns, and rural communities.
Supporting families, especially large families, is a Government priority. We are implementing a comprehensive range of measures in order to help them improve their living conditions, be it buying a new flat or a new house.
Primarily, that includes low-interest lending. More than 3 million parents with children have benefited from it, with almost a third using family mortgages, which is among the most in-demand tools.
The one-time payment of 450,000 roubles that can be used to pay off a mortgage loan has been a great help for large families. About 730,000 families have received this allowance. According to the President’s instruction, we will extend this measure through 2030.
That amount has been increased to 1 million roubles for residents of the Russian Far East, initially as part of a pilot project in the Primorye Territory. Most recently, the project was expanded to include Chukotka and other Far Eastern regions with lower-than-average birth rates.
Notably, the low-interest mortgage programmes also apply to detached homes, and more and more people are buying them. Since 2021, the number of such loans has doubled to almost 310,000.
Another important step has been made towards this end. The escrow account system now includes the construction of detached houses, which will help protect the customers’ funds since the developer will be paid only after completing the construction. This will also help attract only professional organisations and provide families with an additional guarantee for planning their future.
The law to that effect has been signed by the President and will come into force in March 2025.
However, the Government’s responsibilities do not end with providing the citizens with an opportunity to buy an apartment or a house. We are working hard to upgrade the existing housing stock and reducing the number of dilapidated houses.
We are implementing these programmes at an accelerated pace. Over the past five years, more than 700,000 people have been relocated from over 12 million square metres of uninhabitable space. Our goal within the new national project, Infrastructure for Life, is to continue these efforts and to carry out major repairs of apartment blocks across the country.
It is crucial to make sure that our people live in dignified and safe conditions, well-maintained areas with modern well-functioning engineering and utility networks, and essential and conveniently located social infrastructure. These factors determine the quality of life and often become decisive when considering options for starting a family.
To help the Russian regions more actively create a favourable urban environment, a number of financial tools have been developed at the President’s initiative which make it possible to build over a thousand schools, kindergartens, outpatient clinics, and roads in the regions.
Infrastructure budget loans are a primary source of funding. The 1 trillion roubles allocated to this end have been distributed among the regions, along with an additional 190 billion roubles in special-purpose treasury loans.
According to the President’s instruction, we will reinvest payments under debts that come back to the budget into expanding regional infrastructure. Starting next year, these funds will be used to issue new loans. Additionally, from 2026 onwards, we will provide regions with 250 billion roubles annually for five years for the same purpose.
Infrastructure bonds are another effective tool which nearly a third of the regions are using to implement around 50 projects totaling over 170 billion roubles.
These financial mechanisms are being widely used to upgrade the utility infrastructure. In the coming years, we will need to significantly expand its capacity which is an extremely challenging goal considering that over a third of heating, water supply, and sewage networks need to be replaced.
It is, therefore, crucial to swiftly finalise the comprehensive programme for upgrading housing and utilities to 2030. The total planned funding from all sources amounts to 4.5 trillion roubles.
As part of these activities, more than 150,000 kilometres of networks and at least 2,000 water supply facilities will be upgraded to ensure that millions of our people receive high-quality utility services, that their homes stay warm and that they have access to clean cold and hot water.
The President focuses on territorial connectivity and efforts to lift infrastructure constraints in the regions. This also includes improving living conditions, and enhancing the quality of life in small towns, historical settlements, and rural communities.
Considering this, it is crucial to continue directing our efforts toward reducing disparities in the economic and social development among Russian regions. It is essential to address matters of comprehensive territorial development, and to create growth centres in each region based on their agricultural, industrial, and logistical capacity in order to attract investment and increase the number of new jobs.
This will help continue to build modern housing, kindergartens, outpatient clinics, and hospitals, and upgrade utilities so that citizens in remote areas have equal opportunities for fulfilling their potential and enjoying high living standards.
The list of 2,000 core communities should include major metropolitan areas, small towns, and rural communities across all Russian regions.
In addition, master plans and comprehensive socioeconomic development plans will be drafted for 200 urban areas, along with the tools that are necessary to move them forward.
Addressing goals of this level of complexity and scale requires the availability of well-trained specialists with the necessary expertise and competencies, including graduates of the Architects.rf training platform. Over the six years of its existence, nearly 500 people have completed the training. More than 100 others are undergoing additional training. Half of them, which fact I would like to emphasise, are chief city architects. These people truly understand the goals at hand and know what needs to be done to accomplish them.
This programme has become increasingly popular. I just spoke with some of its participants, and they asked me to extend it. Three years ago, we made that decision, and we now know it was the right thing to do. We will support it again this time.
A comprehensive and inclusive approach to planning and urban environment development allows for the creation of areas that are comfortable for living and raising children, competitive for work-related purposes, and attractive for recreation, tourism, and travel.
According to experts, the birth rate is 15 percent higher in places where people are willing to build their careers and raise families. As a result, more people from other regions and countries are drawn to these areas.
That is why the Government continues to implement measures aimed at improving comfortable environment in both urban and rural areas. Over the past few years, tens of thousands of public spaces have been brought up to standard. What is particularly important, it was done using feedback from the local residents, where people themselves decided which projects and issues should be prioritised for funding. Since the time they obtained the opportunity to participate in shaping the urban environment, residents’ engagement has been growing year in and year out.
The nationwide voting for selecting areas that need improvement is one such tool. Last spring, over 17 million people participated in the fourth such event which is nearly twice as many as during the first year. Around 100,000 votes came from the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
Ultimately, about 2,000 sites were selected for renovation next year.
This mechanism not only helps regional or municipal authorities get a clear idea of what needs to be brought up to standard or prioritized: a park, a public garden, a street, or a courtyard. It showcases that the people do care about the places where they live, which is exactly the way it is.
We use this forum to annually review the outcomes of the national competition for the best comfortable urban environment projects. It plays a significant role in transforming the look of our country, in particular, its small towns and historical settlements.
The ninth such nationwide competition has effectively taken place, and we are conducting the third competition for the Far Eastern cities on the President’s initiative.
Today, nearly 300 more projects will be selected and implemented in the coming years. In all, more than a thousand ideas from over 700 communities have been brought to life, meaning that these places now have beautiful waterfronts, parks, well-kept courtyards, and streets for millions of our fellow countrymen.
Every year, increasing numbers of strong ideas come to the fore, such as Mayak Park in Magadan, which we visited twice, first time four years ago and most recently in July. It is a compelling example of how one successful project can spur the development of an entire city, even a region, and unlock the economic and tourism potential of the localities, especially the cultural and historical monuments.
To achieve such goals, we have developed a pilot presidential programme for renovating cultural heritage sites. We plan to launch it in eight Russian regions this year.
Friends, this year marks the Year of the Family proclaimed by the President. First and foremost, the family is about a home where traditional values are carefully preserved and passed on. Just as we proudly say “this is my family” or “this is my home,” we can proudly say My Family is Russia, a large, strong, and tight knit family. Together, we must take care of its well-being, its every nook and cranny, and its every resident.
I wish you success in your endeavours, new vibrant ideas, and new projects for the benefit of Russia.
