On his visit to Dagestan the authorized presidential envoy to the
North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD) Alexander Khloponin met the
head of the republic, the Cabinet and the clergy. One of the
government meetings was about the coming census. Khloponin hopes that
the census will give a good picture of deep veiled problems for
strategic planning, and achievement of planned goals.
The risk of fake results is high. The functionaries are interested in
over-exaggerating the figures on their territories using the IDs of
the dead people to receive financial support. This occurred in 2002.
This is why Khloponin will inspect preparations for the census
personally. Another issue is the coming municipal elections. Experts
in Dagestan believe that all the unrest and crimes in the region
during the elections are due to election fraud. On his visit to
Derbent, the mayoral elections in the city had to be suspended due to
mass unrest. Derbent plans to celebrate its 5000th anniversary. There
are high-level preparations for the anniversary, and the authorities
plan to attract tourists.
The most topical issue is the problem of preparing projects to join
the Strategy of NCFD. Dagestan is not reflected in the strategy to the
full scale. The authorized envoy reminded that financing from the
district budget, funds and credit resources of the NCFD will directly
depend on the quality of projects. Up-capitalization of the region
will reach 60 billion rubles next year. The finances will be spent on
developing tourist-recreation zones. None of the projects has been
involved in the program because they were not properly prepared,
Khloponin said. He ordered the government to make adjustments to the
projects within a month. The envoy will consider the results
personally on his next visit to Dagestan.
Moreover, the envoy was working with the numerous federal programs
which are financed. The financing is not clear, it is impossible to
define the people responsible and, thus, it is impossible the see
where the money goes. Rating the efficiency of certain structure does
not require deep analysis. For example, Dagestan lacks modern industry
but it has the Industry Ministry. There is no investment but there is
the Agency for Investments and Exterior Economic Activities. There is
hardly any small business but there is a committee for supporting
small business. There are few utilities services, little inventory,
engineering for communication repairing. Some street cleaners have no
money to buy a broom but there is a Housing and Public Utilities
Ministry. There are hardly any forests but there is a committee of
forest economy.
Financing of healthcare and education is still poor. The government
cannot provide young people with secular education. Dagestan lacks
schools, half of pre-schoolers do not attend kindergartens. The only
solution for young people is joining the militant groups. The republic
holds the Russian record for traffic accident deaths. The cities have
dense construction, there are not enough sidewalks. This is why on his
visit to Derbent, Alexander Khloponin proposed to start works from
garbage disposal upwards.
Musa Musayev, Makhachkala. Exclusively for VK
