Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy is on live broadcast on the VKontakte social network

Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy for the first time was on air on the VKontakte social network, and answered more than 40 questions from subscribers of the Ostrovskiy community. In total, in preparation for the event, over 400 complaints, suggestions and wishes were received, moreover, about a hundred of them - in the form of personal messages to the Head of the region.

Among the main topics raised by Smolensk residents there are social sphere issues (healthcare and social support, education), housing and utility services (land improvement and relocation from emergency housing), and road repairs in the region. In total, almost 50 thousand people watched the online broadcast.

We bring to your attention a text version of the most interesting topics of the live broadcast.

On the format of communication with Smolensk region residents

Alexey Ostrovskiy: More than seven years ago, I became the Head of the region and made the maximum openness of authorities a priority in the region. I oriented myself, my subordinates and the heads of municipalities to this. I try as often as possible to communicate with people in completely different formats, walking around the city, traveling to areas and settlements. I see that the Smolensk region residents have a great need for a dialogue with the authorities, for the opportunity to ask their representatives questions and to hear answers. That is why the new form of communication [live broadcast on VKontakte] is a good way, including for those who spend a lot of time on the Internet. If Smolensk region responds and says that this is a useful form of communication with the authorities, and they support it, then I will arrange such online dialogs regularly.

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I think that 400 questions from residents of the region in three weeks are not a lot. This, unfortunately, is a sign for me that people still do not believe that they can influence something, change something. I hope that the solution of the questions that will be voiced today will give the residents of the region a reason to see that they can change something and a lot depends on them.

Questions came in for three weeks, and during this period I worked every day, including traveling to municipalities. For example, when visiting Ugra district, Ugra village, I, responding to one of the questions received during the live broadcast, went with the district head and demanded the demolition of the building, which poses a threat to the health and life of Ugra children. Therefore, all those questions that will be voiced today will be answered. And the problems that we, unfortunately, will not be able to cover today, because it is simply physically unreal, although I’m ready to devote at least two hours of my working time to this event, it will be worked out by officials. All applicants will receive answers within the next calendar month - exactly so much time I will give officials to process them and say which question can be solved, which cannot and why.  If the issue cannot be resolved, I want Smolensk residents to understand why. Our citizens have an absolutely fair desire to improve their quality of life now, but the authorities, for objective reasons, are often not able to do this on the basis of our legislation and in connection with budgetary processes, but people should at least receive feedback from the authorities.

Healthcare

Alexey Ostrovskiy: There is a problem of an incorrect attitude on the part of doctors, nurses to the patients. I will always be on the side of the residents of the region in terms of fighting such an incorrect, rude attitude, and Smolensk region people will always see support from me in this matter. In response to the appeals that came to me, I gave instructions to conduct the relevant checks. Commission proceedings were conducted, and where all this information was confirmed, the perpetrators would certainly be punished. However, not all appeals have been confirmed. There were situations when a too emotionally inclined patient distorted reality a little.

An audit will be conducted in the Vyazma Central District Hospital

Alexey Ostrovskiy: As for the Vyazma Central District Hospital, just recently, an audit was carried out on my task. As I recall, its results did not reveal the absence of any relevant materials [bandages, cotton wool, etc.]. But, of course, I will pay special attention to the Vyazma Central District Hospital and ask [addresses to the assistant] to write down my assignment - in addition to carry out the additional corresponding inspection.

And now about the conditions in which people receive medical care. I have repeatedly said that the condition of the Central District Hospitals is catastrophic. Without serious support and assistance from the federal center, not a single subject of the Federation is able to radically change the situation. And even more so, we are still not a rich region. In this regard, as the Head of the region, I have high hopes for national projects that began to be implemented in the country on the task of the President. A huge amount of money will be sent to the regions - I hope this will allow us to qualitatively solve the problem in the next six years.

Education

“There is not a single school in the region where schoolchildren study in three shifts”

Alexey Ostrovskiy: A few years ago, we carried out the order of the President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin regarding the studying of schoolchildren in three shifts: in Smolensk region there is not a single school where this form of education continues to exist. Yes, we still have a certain number of educational institutions where we study in two shifts, but we are working on this. In the near future we will solve this problem by building new schools.

In any case, in response to appeals from the Smolensk residents, I instruct the relevant Department to conduct an audit and report to me on the results.

The most urgent problem in the field of education today is the lack of places in nursery groups of preschool educational institutions. We have 100% eliminated the queue to kindergartens for children aged 3 to 7 years. In the coming years we will carry out this work in relation to nurseries and younger groups, we will open new kindergartens in Smolensk and in a number of district centers. This problem should disappear completely. For example, this year we plan to open two kindergartens - in Korolyovka microdistrict of the regional center and in the village of Altukhovka, Smolensk region.

The Governor will personally check the kindergarten "Luchik"

Alexey Ostrovskiy: As you know from the media, together with the head of the city of Smolensk, Andrei Alexandrovich Borisov, we introduced the practice of working trips to the regional center once every two weeks to solve city problems. During the next trip round of the city, I plan to inspect the kindergarten "Luchik" together with the head of the city. We will talk with those who work there, with parents, inspect the list of problematic issues that need to be addressed.

About repair of educational institutions of the regional center

Alexey Ostrovskiy: The work on the construction of an extension to the 33rd school is proceeding in accordance with the schedule and will be completed in November this year. Moreover, I want to say that Vitaly Leontyevich Mutko, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation, supported my request and instructed the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education to provide in the federal budget for 2020 money for Smolensk region for the construction of a new building for school No. 33 of the city of Smolensk and repairs of Cyril and Methodius Lyceum.  

Teachers from the countryside will get financial support

Alexey Ostrovskiy: Regarding the appeals from the pedagogical community, I have decided that next year an incentive prize will be introduced for the best rural teacher.

Housing and communal services

The problem with water supply in Roslavl and Vyazma will be solved

Alexey Ostrovskiy: This problem exists in the region, but only our Administration really began to deal with it seven years ago. Before that, the authorities did not invest significant amounts of money in pipe transfer, their reconstruction and repairs. Unfortunately, due to a lack of funding, work is not being carried out at the speed that residents of the region would like. Starting this year, both in Roslavl and in Vyazma, and in a number of other large municipal entities, the federal project “Clean Water” will be implemented. Within its framework, new water treatment and deironing stations will be built. This work is being done with the assistance of Sergey Ivanovich Neverov, the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. He provides reliable support in order to receive additional funds from the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services. But it is not possible to improve in two, three, five years something that has not been done for decades. Nevertheless, we are gradually changing the situation for the better.

About separate garbage collection

Alexey Ostrovskiy: We are gradually expanding this work [on the installation of containers for separate garbage collection]; in a number of districts and settlements similar separate containers for garbage collection already exist. They are multi-colored: one is for glass, the other one is for plastic, and the third is one for paper. If you take the center of Smolensk, then such containers can be seen at the entrance to the "Lopatinsky Sad." Of course, we will intensify the work on their installation. But I want to say right away that a lot depends on people’s habit to do it that needs to be developed. I have no illusions about it. Let’s pray that our grandchildren will get the habit of separate collection of garbage. Yes, we, the authorities, are obliged to create conditions, but we cannot develop the habit of waste management. This should be done in the family. From early years, a child should know about it. In the West, in Europe, this has all been shaped for decades. But the government is obliged to create conditions. They are being created in our area and will be created with even greater coverage.

Road facilities

Alexey Ostrovskiy: The problem of repair, reconstruction, maintenance of roads in good condition is a very serious one. Because the road funds of the regions receive significantly less money than it is required for the roads to be of a completely different quality. Therefore, we patch them as we receive money from year to year, from district to district. This year, it is the turn of Demidov district. On my instructions 32 million rubles were allocated to the municipality, and at the moment the district administration, the head of the district, together with the regional road workers are repairing the 12 central streets of Demidov. At the end of the construction season, the quality of roads in the central part of the city will definitely improve. We do this in other areas: somewhere to a greater extent, somewhere to a lesser extent - depending on the traffic load, number of residents and other criteria.

This year we have already helped Gagarin: I allocated 43 million rubles to repair the road network and now we are looking for an opportunity in the road fund to increase this amount to 75 million rubles. For Gagarin, this is a decent amount of money; therefore, the number of repaired roads with a quality cover will increase there. 

No matter how hard I try, how much I would like to do it , but I don’t know every traffic light in the region, so I won’t be able to immediately respond to the request (address: Kievskoye Shosse, turn to Zagorye residential complex). We will study this issue, but I promise in advance to that resident of Smolensk that this year the traffic light there will definitely work, I think closer to November-December, given the time that needs to be spent on solving the problem.

About Zelenstroy

Alexey Ostrovskiy: Of course, I, like the residents of Smolensk, want to live in a green city. But at the same time, there are completely different reasons why Zelenstroy is engaged in sawing or shaping trees. The first is court decisions, and there are plenty of them. Such appeals are initiated by Smolensk residents, organizations, prosecutors. We cannot influence this. There are dead trees that are subject to cut, so as not to pose a threat to the lives of Smolensk residents. But there are, here I have no illusions, are cases of outright negligence. And I ask the head of the city to minimize these cases, to hold a meeting with his subordinates responsible for it. Such work is in progress. We will try to make the city even greener.

About investments

Alexey Ostrovskiy: Despite the fact that over 7 years of the Administration’s work under my leadership we have attracted a record amount of extra-budgetary investments for Smolensk region - under 100 billion rubles, I always say that this does not affect the life of Smolensk globally. Whereas the things that we already spoke about at the beginning of our talk will do it. This is the state of health care institutions, education, the social sphere, laid pipes, the absence of hot water outages in the summer and other things.

We not only opened a significant number of new enterprises, but also saved the old ones from collapse. We restored some enterprises closed by the previous authorities. <...>

We have an agricultural region. We attract major investors to agriculture. And through the creation of new jobs there, we preserve life in the countryside, which is one of the tasks of our President.

Seven years ago, I set myself, first of all, and before my subordinates the task of making the region attractive for investors, and stop it being a black hole. They were afraid to invest not only extra-budgetary money here, but the state was also afraid of investing budget money. And the first year and a half of my work was spent trying to regain confidence of Moscow in Smolensk region. Therefore, we finally entered the top twenty [regions with the most favorable investment climate], but we do not plan to stop there. We will go further. Moreover, according to the results of 2018, we were among the five best regions of the country in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. And this is not my assessment, not the assessment of the Administration of the region. These are ratings compiled by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives on the task of our President.

Governor’s Pride

Alexey Ostrovskiy: [I am proud] of many investment projects that we managed to implement. For example, the construction of the rabbit farm "KROL and K". This is the largest rabbit farm in the Russian Federation - it produces the most livestock. I am proud that under my leadership as Governor, and under the present Administration, which I head, the agro-industrial holding Promagro and the Russian Flax company (part of the Holding) for the first time in 30 years in the country are building a new flax plant in Safonovo district of our region. I am especially proud of this, knowing from my work as a deputy of the State Duma, who oversees Smolensk region, who is elected from Smolensk region to the State Duma, the nostalgia of the older generation for the time when the region achieved significant results in flax growing in the Soviet period. Therefore, I set the task more than 7 years ago to return leadership positions in flax to our region. During this time, we have already become the first in the Central Federal District and the second in the Russian Federation. We have a flax sown area of ​​only 300 hectares less than the sown area of the leader in the country - Omsk region. We need to add a little more, and, I am sure, in the next two years we will definitely regain our first place in the country, as it was in the Soviet period.

About Hogweed

Alexey Ostrovskiy: A couple of months ago I held a special meeting of the Administration on this issue. The problem is typical both for our region and for many regions of the country in general. The Rosselkhoznadzor should monitor the places where the hogweed grows on agricultural lands, the Rosreestr of the Administration of Smolensk region shoul do it for other lands that do not belong to this category. Therefore, in the near future I plan to hold a working meeting with the head of the regional department of Rosreestr Tatyana Alekseevna Shurygina to determine how we will jointly resolve this issue. Thanks to the resident for paying attention to this problem, but we know about it. Now we are looking for options on how to solve it most competently. As control is performed by Rosreestr and Rosselkhoznadzor, but responsibility is with land owners: regional authorities are responsible for the regional land, municipal authorities are responsible for the municipal land. In Smolensk, this responsibility rests with the City Administration.

Tens of millions of rubles are annually spent on putting land into agricultural circulation.

Alexey Ostrovskiy: The problem is serious, but we are already dealing with it. I am grateful to the Ministry of Agriculture and personally to Minister Dmitry Nikolayevich Patrushev for the support we are given in resolving this issue. Tens of millions of rubles are allocated annually for recultivation. As a result of this work in 2017-2018, we were able to increase cultivated areas by 10 thousand hectares. This year, I set my subordinates the task of putting another 15 thousand hectares into agricultural circulation. Thus, for three years 25 thousand hectares in total will be obtained. This is a significant amount. Among the farms that are engaged in recultivation and show a large increase in grain productivity, I can primarily name such agricultural enterprises as Gorodnyanskoye [Novodugino District], Meshcherskoye [Sychevka District], and the agricultural holding Miratorg [Roslavl, Ershychy, Monasyrshchina, Pochinok, and Khislavichy Districts].

There are 5-6 large companies in the region that invest significant money in agricultural activities. We partially return them these funds through subsidies. And we will continue this work of putting land into agricultural circulation to increase arable land.

Families with many children in Smolensk receive land

Alexey Ostrovskiy: In accordance with the regional legislation, we provide free land plots in all, the municipalities of our region, except the city of Smolensk, to large families in which 3 or more children are being brought up. For example, the greatest demand for living space and receiving land plots is in Smolensk District - today more than 800 plots have been formed on its territory in three areas of Mikhnovka rural settlement, but there are much fewer applicants and about 300 more land plots remain free.

About the personnel policy after the live broadcast

Alexey Ostrovskiy: I can’t say that I am pleased with the work of all my subordinates. Perhaps I will be forced to make certain personnel decisions when their employment contracts expire. However, there is still a whole month ahead - during this time you can both improve or worsen the situation. Therefore, for now, I won’t go into details.

About the 1100th Anniversary of Smolensk Park

Alexey Ostrovskiy: As far as I know, it is the city [Administration of the city of Smolensk], and not the region [Administration of Smolensk region] that has ordered the works at this object. Under the contract, all the works have been completed, but not 100% of the works have been paid for, because there are drawbacks, but, in general, the planned activities have been completed. If there are some suggestions for improving the urban environment in this park, both I and the head of the city of Smolensk, Andrei Aleksandrovich Borisov, will definitely listen to them and try to carry them out corresponding to the available budget opportunities.

About the empty building on Gagarin Prospect

Alexey Ostrovskiy: This is a private property <...>. It was recently acquired by the Bryansk company [Megapolis-Smolensk], which, with the support of the regional Administration and on my task, is carrying out repairs there to open a five-star hotel with 210 rooms.

The lighting system in the regional center is going to be modernized

Alexey Ostrovskiy: In the near future, a procurement plan will be ready. An energy service agreement is being prepared for the tender, within the framework of which a full audit of city lighting system has been carried out. About 14 thousand lights are subject for replacement. By the end of the year, the lighting equipment will be installed.

All the 400 questions asked during the preparation for the live broadcast will be worked out

Alexey Ostrovskiy: At the beginning of the live broadcast, I said that if the Smolensk people support this format, if they like it, then, of course, we will continue to hold similar online broadcasts regularly. Maybe once a quarter. All the questions that have been received, and there are about 400 of them, will be worked out by my subordinates, each respondent will receive an answer. We will try to solve most of the issues taking into account our capabilities.

Thank you for participating, asking and watching us, dear, dear residents of Smolensk region!