Transport infrastructure important for Eastern Russia development - Maslovsky
MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - The state program of socioeconomic development of the Far East and the Baikal region is supposed to enlarge investments from the current 1.1 trillion rubles to 3.6 trillion by 2020. Attention to the transport infrastructure is also important, Federation Council member Pavel Maslovsky, representing the Amur region, told Interfax.
"It is right that the state program concentrates on development of the transport infrastructure, which is the program pillar. The development of this structure will solve the employment problem, which is extremely important for the Far East and the Baikal region, which, in turn, will stop migration from the Far East," said Maslovsky, a member of the working group that drafted the state program.
"Annual allocations for the transport component of the program will stand at approximately 100 billion rubles. Some 95% of these funds will upgrade the infrastructural frame of the region - roads and power grids will be built," Maslovsky said.
He recalled that the president initiated amendments to a number of laws last November to grant tax preferences to new enterprises in the region with investments larger than 150 million rubles and a preferential regime for processing plants within the special economic zone.
"It is important to understand that not a single investor will start a resource project without optimal logistics. From this point of view, the priority of transport and energy elements of the state program is quite founded," he stressed.
"The state program will raise regional incomes from current 18,500 rubles per capita to 55,000 rubles already by 2020," he said.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday he had signed a program of socioeconomic development for the Far East and the Baikal region and the program started to function.
