Opinions & Interviews

Minskers to be encouraged to move to satellite towns

MINSK, 11 March (BelTA) – The government will come up with various incentives to encourage Minskers to buy housing in satellite towns, Minsk Mayor Anatoly Sivak said following a working meeting with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on 11 March, BelTA has learned.

“I would like satellite towns to be viewed not only as an instrument to resolve Minskers’ housing issues. This territory near Minsk has a number of advantages and it can develop very fast. It is convenient to live there, because satellite towns are located in the close vicinity to nature and not far from the facilities and opportunities offered by Minsk,” the mayor said.

Anatoly Sivak emphasized that the government is not going to impose restrictions to ease burden on the capital city. Quite the opposite, it seeks to offer incentives to people to motivate them to relocate to satellite towns. One of such stimuli is the cost of housing. An experiment is underway in Smolevichi to build a subsidized house for Minskers who are on the waiting list for better housing. The Minsk mayor assured that a set of measures will be taken to minimize the cost of apartments in this house. “It is imperative to put a cap on the profitability rate of developers, to build more efficient housing and to choose the lowest bidder among the contracting authorities,” he explained.

“The bill on the construction of this experimental house in Smolevichi is under scrutiny by government members. The housing construction plans in satellite towns will be adjusted taking into consideration the outcomes of this experiment,” Anatoly Sivak noted.

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