New Regional Policy: Continuity or Change?
15 February 2018
The session ‘New Regional Policy: Continuity or Change?’ was held at the Russian Investment Forum on 15 February.
The Government is supposed to wrap up the drafting of a spatial development strategy (SDS) in 2018. “We want to make this document a practical guide for action. This strategy should result in the creation of the country’s ‘infrastructural framework’,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said. However, he said no radical changes should be expected since the strategy aims to improve existing mechanisms of interaction between the federal government and the regions. Its objective is to adjust numerous development programmes, above all for the infrastructural development of territories. “Numerous federal and regional programmes are being implemented today, but this is taking place in isolation. There are many industry-wide and regional policies, but there is no tool to coordinate them,” Kozak explained. In 2017 alone, the volume of state and municipal orders (primarily for the development of industrial and social infrastructure) amounted to RUB 7.1 trillion, he said. These resources could be used much more effectively.
Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin also believes that the broad spectrum of development plans creates uncertainty for the regions: “The creation of an infrastructure map will provide the regional authorities with an understanding of how the state will build federal infrastructure, how natural monopoly entities will operate, what niches can be carved out, and which private investors should or perhaps should not be invited.”
Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov expressed the general attitude among governors to the initiative: “We are all for reasonable continuity, but for changes as well.” Excessive administrative barriers need to be eliminated in order to improve the investment climate, he said.
Tula Region Governor Alexey Dyumin said he is confident that as many tools as possible should be included in the spatial development strategy in order to improve the socioeconomic situation in the regions: “There are such programmes as the ‘Comfortable Urban Environment,’ ‘Safe and Good Roads,’ and others, which are producing a positive result. There should be as many of these programmes as possible. This is a necessity.”
Udmurt Republic Head Alexander Brechalov said a key problem is the shortage of qualified personnel who are ready to manage changes: “On average, the salary of a municipality head is RUB 20,000–25,000, and he is a great responsibility for people, and so on. I won’t be able to attract managers who have experience implementing intense breakthrough projects and who know how to manage changes.”
Acting Governor of Ivanovo Region Stanislav Voskresensky put forward a rather specific proposal to form the aforementioned ‘infrastructural framework’ that Dmitry Kozak and Maxim Oreshkin spoke about: “Let’s finally build bypasses around the capitals of the regions of the Federation that don’t have any yet. Not only would there be a logistical effect, the urban environment would become more comfortable and ecology would improve. This would provide a multiplier effect and cities would breathe differently. It would not require such astronomical amounts, and everything would definitely pay off.”
The discussion concluded with a speech by Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) General Director Svetlana Chupsheva. She said that all the authorities must clearly understand which infrastructure is really in demand in a particular territory and how federal and regional support measures should be linked. “This work is complicated, but feasible. The business community in all regions definitely must be involved in the discussion. This is the core for further growth in our country’s economy,” Chupsheva emphasized.
The Government is supposed to wrap up the drafting of a spatial development strategy (SDS) in 2018. “We want to make this document a practical guide for action. This strategy should result in the creation of the country’s ‘infrastructural framework’,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said. However, he said no radical changes should be expected since the strategy aims to improve existing mechanisms of interaction between the federal government and the regions. Its objective is to adjust numerous development programmes, above all for the infrastructural development of territories. “Numerous federal and regional programmes are being implemented today, but this is taking place in isolation. There are many industry-wide and regional policies, but there is no tool to coordinate them,” Kozak explained. In 2017 alone, the volume of state and municipal orders (primarily for the development of industrial and social infrastructure) amounted to RUB 7.1 trillion, he said. These resources could be used much more effectively.
Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin also believes that the broad spectrum of development plans creates uncertainty for the regions: “The creation of an infrastructure map will provide the regional authorities with an understanding of how the state will build federal infrastructure, how natural monopoly entities will operate, what niches can be carved out, and which private investors should or perhaps should not be invited.”
Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov expressed the general attitude among governors to the initiative: “We are all for reasonable continuity, but for changes as well.” Excessive administrative barriers need to be eliminated in order to improve the investment climate, he said.
Tula Region Governor Alexey Dyumin said he is confident that as many tools as possible should be included in the spatial development strategy in order to improve the socioeconomic situation in the regions: “There are such programmes as the ‘Comfortable Urban Environment,’ ‘Safe and Good Roads,’ and others, which are producing a positive result. There should be as many of these programmes as possible. This is a necessity.”
Udmurt Republic Head Alexander Brechalov said a key problem is the shortage of qualified personnel who are ready to manage changes: “On average, the salary of a municipality head is RUB 20,000–25,000, and he is a great responsibility for people, and so on. I won’t be able to attract managers who have experience implementing intense breakthrough projects and who know how to manage changes.”
Acting Governor of Ivanovo Region Stanislav Voskresensky put forward a rather specific proposal to form the aforementioned ‘infrastructural framework’ that Dmitry Kozak and Maxim Oreshkin spoke about: “Let’s finally build bypasses around the capitals of the regions of the Federation that don’t have any yet. Not only would there be a logistical effect, the urban environment would become more comfortable and ecology would improve. This would provide a multiplier effect and cities would breathe differently. It would not require such astronomical amounts, and everything would definitely pay off.”
The discussion concluded with a speech by Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) General Director Svetlana Chupsheva. She said that all the authorities must clearly understand which infrastructure is really in demand in a particular territory and how federal and regional support measures should be linked. “This work is complicated, but feasible. The business community in all regions definitely must be involved in the discussion. This is the core for further growth in our country’s economy,” Chupsheva emphasized.
