Deeply discussed issues of infrastructure and housing construction
Opening the meeting, Chairperson of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly Natalia Kochanova noted:
- Strong regions mean a strong country. This is the path we will follow. Unfortunately, the potential of rural regions and small towns is not fully utilized. Our task is to collectively develop approaches and identify key directions for implementing this strategy.
The Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, Alexander Subbotin, delivered a report on housing construction in the Vitebsk region in 2024:
- Last year, 538 apartments for large families, 1339 rental apartments, and over 20 apartments for orphans and children left without parental care were built in the region. The same trend continues this year. The Council of Ministers has set a task to commission 20% more housing than in previous years and to provide housing for 480 large families.
At the meeting, Minister of Architecture and Construction Ruslan Parkhamovich spoke about the problematic issues of housing and infrastructure construction in rural settlements and measures to address them; Minister of Labor and Social Protection Nataliya Pavlyuchenko spoke about rental housing as a mechanism for retaining social sector workers; Chairman of the Glubokoye District Executive Committee Alexander Shubsky spoke about the impact of infrastructure construction on urban development.
Minister of Architecture Ruslan Parkhamovich:
- The largest number of rural settlements is in the Vitebsk region. Over the past 5 years, the population has decreased by 8.5%. Among the measures to retain staff, it is proposed to return to the system of departmental housing with the right of redemption by the employee after a certain period of service, preferential lending of 90%, and for a certain category, 100% of the cost per square meter, and expansion of state support for rural housing construction.
The Chairman of the Standing Commission on Regional Policy and Local Self-Government of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Leonid Zayats, acquainted those present with the draft Work Plan for interaction of local self-government bodies under the Council of the Republic for 2025 and the creation of a working group to prepare the next meeting of the Council for the Interaction of Local Self-Government Bodies.
Natalia Kochanova presented a Letter of Gratitude from the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus to the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Production and Construction Closed Joint Stock Company "TREST PROMSTROY", Valery Mazovka.