The work of the transport complex of the Vitebsk region was discussed at a regular session of the regional council

The organization of a new trolleybus route No. 16 in Vitebsk was announced at the 52nd session of the regional Council of Deputies of the 28th convocation by Alexander Nefedov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Architecture and Construction of the Regional Executive Committee.

He was the rapporteur on the main issue on the agenda, "On the progress of the regional complex of measures for the implementation of the State Program "Transport Complex" for 2021–2025". Anatoly Linevich, First Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, took part in the session.

The target indicator of the state program measures, such as freight turnover, was not achieved in 2022: with a target of reaching 104.7% compared to the 2020 level, the actual figure was 78.5%. Alexander Nefedov explained this by the fact that road transport enterprises established in Belarus and Russia are prohibited by the regulations and decisions of the Council of the European Union from transporting goods through the territory of the EU, including in transit. The region's road transport enterprises face the task of compensating for losses in the export of transport services and finding new directions for cargo transportation.

Passenger traffic was also affected by the foreign policy situation developing around Belarus and the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, thanks to the efforts taken by the authorities and carriers, the growth rate of passenger turnover in 2022 compared to 2021 was 104.6%, and in the first three months of 2023 – 108.6% compared to the same period in 2021.

In 2021, 31 million rubles were allocated from the regional budget for subsidizing transport organizations, in 2022 – 36.6 million rubles, and in 2023 it is planned to allocate 37.9 million rubles. One of the reserves for increasing the payback of passenger transportation by the own income of transport organizations should be considered the control over the completeness of fare payment in regular service by the inspection service of the state enterprise "Transport Operator". For the renewal of the rolling stock of automotive and urban electric transport, including lease payments under contracts from previous years, 7.1 million rubles were allocated in 2021, and 18.9 million rubles in 2022. The volumes of procurement and financing for the acquisition of passenger transport provided for by the state program are extremely insufficient for the renewal of the rolling stock in the required volume.

As a solution when acquiring rolling stock, the mechanism of the Decree "On financing the purchase of modern equipment and machinery" is applied. In 2021, 34 units of domestically produced transport were acquired. In 2022, 84 units of transport were purchased using funds from the regional budget. In August 2022, the funds of OJSC "Promagroleasing" for financing the acquisition of domestically produced passenger transport were exhausted. The Regional Executive Committee worked out the issue of operational development of the remaining lease funds in the amount of 22 million rubles, not used during 2022 by the agro-industrial and forestry organizations of the republic.

Regarding the improvement of public transport services in the regional center, Alexander Nefedov explained that the Vitebsk region is the first in the republic to receive 10 autonomous trolleybuses manufactured by the Minsk Automobile Plant this year. They will be used to service a new route that will connect the Cheremushki and Bilevo microdistricts with the central part of the city, up to the Medtsentr microdistrict, where a number of significant healthcare institutions are located. The road conditions on Yanopolskaya Street do not yet meet the requirements of the building codes for public transport. By a resolution of the session, the Vitebsk City Council and the City Executive Committee were instructed to work out the issue of carrying out work to improve the operational characteristics of the specified section of the street and road network to the necessary extent.

"Vitebskiye Vesti"