October 11, 2006

The Okrug Governor’s press-service informs:

Governor of Ugra Alexander Filipenko had a meeting with members of the Commission of the  RF Public Chamber on issues of the regional development and local self-government.

At the beginning the head of the region told the guests that Ugra is a region of new exploration and development. Governor said that it had influenced the living conditions of people. Alexander Filipenko stressed that the Okrug Government is developing the whole social sphere for people to satisfy their needs in learning, having medical treatment, having rest, going for sports. Governor said that much should be done – to solve the “housing” problem for the Okrug population. In the near future it would be necessary to build millions of sq. m of housing.

Alexander Filipenko also paid the guests’ attention to the fact that in Ugra in spite of its being one of the most successfully-developing regions of Russia, 8 % of people have income lower than the cost of living. The head of the region asked the members of the Public Chamber to clarify the situation and to word their recommendations  about its solution.

After the meeting with Governor the representatives of the Public Chamber participated in the hearings, devoted to the development of the strategy of the social and economic development of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Ugra. 

October 11, 2006

The Okrug Governor’s press-service informs:

Opening the hearings “Strategy of the social-economic development of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Ugra”, the Chairman of the Commission on regional development and local self-government of the Public Chamber Vyacheslav Glazychev said: “As an expert of the Regional Development Ministry I had an opportunity to check over 40 texts where it was written “Concept of Development”, “Strategy of Development”.

The usual schedule of the events often presents inside them. The program, made by Ugra and for Ugra, differs from analogous documents. It includes he vision of the frames of the development and frames which limit this development. Therefore our function is to show the mistakes, made by superior executive and legislative authorities while budgetary and legislative planning as there is no strategic development of the country, unfortunately.”

Governor of Ugra Alexander Filipenko in detail spoke about the history of the development of the social and economic policy of the Autonomous Okrug policy and that it had been the time when many officials considered the oil and gas production growth to be the only function of the Okrug. Governor again said his thesis that the demographic indicators demonstrating the level of people’s life should be of priority in the assessment of the country’s and regions’ development. “Today we  know from our own practice that the demographic processes are quite manageable processes and we know mechanisms of the management therefore we determine in our strategy strengthening positive tendencies – the growth of birth rate, decrease of death rate, increase of life expectancy”, - he said.

Ugra is a locomotive of the Russian economy and is the third after Moscow and St.Petersburg regarding the attraction of investments. The diversification of economy will let it to develop the non-raw materials sector and to make the basic with the same tempos of oil production. Great importance in strengthening financial and social basis of the Okrug is attached to the implementation of the project  aimed at exploring the Pre-Polar Urals which of the All-Russia, national  significance. It is very important that in the Okrug there is a powerful educational complex including the professional education.

Continuing the idea, told by Vyacheslav Glazychev, that the regions which are able to make a breakthrough in demography, would win in the present situation, Governor  of Ugra said the Okrug authorities today renew the policy in this regard. He sees the reasons of the optimistic character of the Okrug development strategy in it and not in the world oil prices:

“I don’t agree with proposals of economists and planning bodies in all the branches of industry and vital activity to go by the inertia scenario. They say that if the conjuncture for oil  is good, we  would produce so much oil and if the conjuncture for oil is bad, we would produce oil by three times less. For many years I have been telling : how much do we need? And we should form conditions of the branch activity, stimulation of investment, tax and other regimes  to provide the needs of the country. They refer to demography in the same manner – it is impossible to build the strategy so, I dare to say. Therefore we should form the balance of labor resources as in any other sector. If we need to increase them by 100 %, we should solve the problem: 99 % at the expense of the natural growth, 1 % - at the expense of attracting people from other regions. The development strategy should not resemble the fishing-rod – to throw it into a lake – and what is there – shall we catch anything or not – who knows”, - said Alexander Filipenko.

October 11, 2006

The Okrug Governor’s press-service informs:

In the Okrug capital the VIII specialized expo “Energy saving of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Ugra-2006” was started today.

This year 79 enterprises and organizations of the oil and gas industry, housing and communal sector  participate in it from Ugra, and also from Moscow, St.Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Chuvashia, Sweden, Czech Republic.

The main goal of the exhibition is experience exchange and promotion of effective use of the Okrug energy resources.

It has become a tradition to award the participants of the regional contest for the best achievements in the sphere of energy saving while the opening ceremony. Among the municipalities with the population over 50 ths. people the city of Surgut got the first prize and 250 ths. rubles, the second was Nizhnevartovsk (150 ths. rubles), the third – Khanty-Mansiysk (100 ths. rubles). Among the municipalities with the population  less than  50 ths. people the winner was the town of Urai (200 ths. rubles).

The workshop devoted to issues of application of energy-saving technologies in the housing and communal services sector was held then. The expo will work in Khanty-Mansiysk on October 11-13.