From housing construction to craft activities. Details of Lukashenko's meeting with the Council of Ministers leadership

ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Lukashenko

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19 August, MINSK . On 19 August, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with the leadership of the Council of Ministers, BELTA has learned.
"A traditional meeting with the participation of interested parties, members of the government and governors," Alexander Lukashenko said at the beginning of the meeting.

The HEAD of state has submitted several important issues in the spheres of economy and social policy for consideration, and the first of them is the simplification of housing construction and lending procedures.

What innovations await housing construction

"As we always say, Belarus is a state for the people. Therefore, all decisions must be made in the interests of the people. And one of our priority tasks has been and remains providing citizens with housing. A roof over their heads is important for any person. Especially for a young family. This is their confidence in the future," the President said.

Alexander Lukashenko had previously instructed the government to take a comprehensive approach to improving legislation in this area. He noted that the statistics on housing commissioning have been negative for the second year in a row. "What is the question?" the head of state clarified.

In analysts' reports, one of the first reasons for the outflow of personnel from small towns is the lack of opportunity to purchase their own housing or at least move into organized, comfortable and well-appointed rental housing.
"Today, we should give a new impetus to housing construction in rural areas, including individual houses, and the construction of rental housing by enterprises for their employees. The government has proposed a whole range of innovations: from simplifying the connection to the engineering infrastructure of individual houses to expanding financial support for young families (up to 31 years old)," the President said.

All innovations were considered by the expert council under the Council of the Republic, the State Control Committee and the Presidential Administration. However, according to Alexander Lukashenko, no general agreement on the documents has been reached.

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The head of state asked the Minister of Architecture and Construction whether all the proposed measures really simplify construction procedures (so as not to create an appearance instead of a solution to the issue), whether the updated legislation will allow housing construction to expand and how the banking sector is involved in these procedures, whether the planned support will have sufficient funding.

How Belarus proposes to consolidate transport systems

The second topic of the meeting was improving the transport infrastructure. Alexander Lukashenko said that more than a year ago, an investor approached him with a proposal to create a single national operator. it was proposed to unite under its wing all the intelligent transport systems available in the country (toll roads, parking system, weight and size control, photo recording system for violations).

"It was instructed to work out this issue in the government in great detail. Of course, exclusively in the interests of the state. At least so that it is better than now, and this is expressed in finances. Because if we are going to carry out a digital transformation of the transport infrastructure, then in the most advanced and convenient way for people," the President emphasized.

As an example, he cited the situation with parking, calling it "complete chaos." "In our most populated city, Minsk, there are many who like to shove their car anywhere. Even with the presence of paid zones located throughout the center, there are citizens who will park their car there but will not pay, that is, there is no payment discipline. And there are no proposals to establish it either," the head of state noted.

"Therefore, the main question is: will a single national operator really strengthen road and public safety, and also be able to increase financial and technological discipline? If so, what volume of investment will be required to implement the project? What is the payback period? Have future budget revenues been calculated?" Alexander Lukashenko outlined a number of questions.

According to him, there is no clear and precise answer to them yet. In this regard, the President instructed to report on what benefits the proposed consolidation of systems brings to the country, how reliable are the economic effects predicted by the investor, or in his "business plan" the main growth factor is an increase in tariffs.
"I am waiting for an explanation of how the budget savings that the investor is talking about can be achieved," the head of state added.

How to get rid of the standard culling of livestock in livestock farming

Among the issues brought up for discussion at the head of state level was an issue from the agricultural sector that was causing concern - the culling of cattle .

Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that colossal efforts and resources are constantly being invested in the agro-industrial sector of Belarus. Another round of modernization has recently been launched.

The efforts being made are producing a certain effect. There is positive dynamics in animal husbandry: this year, MILK production has increased by 6.5%, cattle and poultry - by almost 4.5%.

"However, these figures are backed by a frightening amount of dead livestock," the head of state noted. According to the State Control Committee, almost everywhere the main loss is due to disease. In just six months, 70 thousand heads have died. Among them, calves from birth to six months - more than half, almost 40 thousand.

"This is flagrant mismanagement. If a peasant's cow died in the village, it was a tragedy of universal proportions. Now, for some reason, we have gotten used to hiding behind regulations and standards. Horror! What other regulations (especially in the Mogilev region) for livestock mortality," the head of state critically noted.

The President demanded that there be only one clear standard - a healthy animal kept in good conditions. And then there will be no attrition - neither standard nor above-standard.

The head of state paid special attention to the issue of staffing dairy complexes, of which there are many built across the country. "Who are we milking there? If a cow, then why with goat milk yield?" Alexander Lukashenko asked.

During the meetingThe Minister of Agriculture reported in detail on the state of affairs in the culling of cattle and on the measures taken to staff dairy complexes with highly productive livestock.

What types of activities will artisans be allowed to engage in?

One of the topics of the event with the head of state was the implementation of artisan activities. The President recalled that this year an updated law on entrepreneurial activity was adopted, from which it follows that artisans are becoming part of the entrepreneurial society. "According to the proposal of the government, from October 1 of this year one can become an artisan only according to the established list of types of activity. This list should be determined by the government in the near future," said Alexander Lukashenko. It is also planned to sign a corresponding decree of the head of state. In this regard, the President inquired about what changes are proposed and what this choice is due to, whether these changes were discussed with the population. "We must pay attention to whether the proposed reform will create preconditions for the transition of some artisans, whose activities will fall off the list, to the shadow sector," Alexander Lukashenko clarified. Among the issues that the President outlined were the preservation of Belarus' cultural heritage and the requirement not to lose any rare crafts during the transformations. Photo by Pavel Orlovsky