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Call for more robust development of Minsk satellite towns
MINSK, 20 December (BelTA) - The progress in the implementation of the program to develop Minsk satellite towns in too small, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at the meeting with Minsk authorities on 20 December, BelTA informs.
The head of state recalled the decision which was made several years ago to move the pivotal points of the Minsk agglomeration to the satellite towns of Dzerzhinsk, Zaslavl, Logoisk, Smolevichi, Fanipol and Rudensk. “However, only one house has been commissioned in Smolevichi since 2012,” he said. “And there will be no progress, if the program to relocate industrial facilities is a failure. The planned relocation of 12 enterprises (for example, the wallpaper factory Belorusskiye Oboi, the footwear factory Luch, the Minsk plant of heating equipment, etc.) would attract workforce to the regions,” Alexander Lukashenko said.
The president emphasized that the network of fast and affordable transport between Minsk and the satellite towns is underdeveloped. “You will never convince people to move to these satellite towns if it takes them more than an hour to get to work.”
“When and how does the Minsk City hall plan to build a new motorway from Minsk to the National Airport and high-speed tram lines for passengers? Satellite towns, the industrial park are the vectors of developing and unloading the capital city,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.
He asked the new Minsk authorities how they are going to solve the issue with the population threshold of 2 million. “This number cannot be exceeded. It is not a whim, it is important for the comfortable life of people here,” the president said. “The population density in Minsk is higher than in Warsaw, Berlin, Kiev, Riga, Vilnius and other capital cities. The overpopulation problems can be solved only in connection with the issues of economic development.”
In this context, Alexander Lukashenko remarked that in the past 8 years the economy of Minsk has increased by slightly more than 20%. However, this figure is not enough. “On the one hand, the services sector, trade and finance account for 70% of the gross regional product of the capital city. On the other hand, industrial enterprises do not comply with the requirements of the modern market and ecological norms. The average profitability index cannot reach a double-digit amount and slightly varies around it,” the head of state said.
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