by Musa Musayev, Makhachkala. Exclusively for VK
Vestnik Kavkaza continues its reports on the prospects of the realization of the tourism cluster in the North Caucasian Federal District. Nizami Askerov, acting head of the Subdepartment for Economic Theory of the Dagestani State University, believes that the project will become more significant through expansion of Dagestan recreational and tourism resources. “They are unique in their way and may become an important competitive benefit. This concerns beaches on the Caspian coast of Dagestan. There are no other beaches of this kind in Russia”, Askerov says.
The expert believes that the main condition for realization of the project is “demand and stillness”, implying demand for tourism services and guarantees of security. “The capital likes stillness. Social, commercial, political, religious stillness and so on. The first condition seems obvious: the tourism and recreation sector of economy has proven its historic and geographic benefit. There are many states in the world flourishing from tourism. Fulfillment of the second condition is a problem. Political stability is the main component of stillness”, Nizami Askerov believes.
Lack of “stillness” in the North Caucasus is explained with unrealized redistribution of power and property, the expert explains: “A class of property owners has not been formed yet, the middle class has not been formed, a legal field for functioning of capital has not been formed. A market mechanism is like the clockwork mechanism or a car motor: if a minor part breaks, it causes problems at best”. Askerov believes that “the government continues lashing from one side to the other”. One of the symptoms of such “lashing” is the initiative to bring back direct governor elections: “new leapfrogging will start at the government. Let’s take a look at the US Constitution, it has stability for ages”.
At the same time, what has happened in Chechnya in the last 5-6 years is an economic miracle, Askerov says. The prerequisite of such “miracle” is harsh policy of the government, giving political “stillness” in the republic and information “stillness” beyond. “We have witnessed how the “fourth government” prevented publication of negative information about Chechnya for the last years. But there was negative information about Dagestan almost every day”.
Nizami Askerov reckons that expansion of the tourism cluster by Dagestan gives certain prerequisites for political stabilization in Dagestan. “The federal government passed an order for expansion of the North Caucasus tourism cluster on December 29 last year, which is a gratifying event for the Dagestani population. Earlier estimations of the project totaled about $15 billion. Dagestani participation was minimal. Only the Khunzakhsky District of Dagestan was included. Now the cluster has grown with the Derbentsky, Karabudakhkentsky, Kayakentsky and Magaramkentsky Districts where beach resorts are planned for construction and a ski resort on the border of Jeyrakhsky and Sunzhensky Districts of Ingushetia”.
The project will contribute about 700 billion rubles to the gross regional product by 2020, doubling the economic growth rate of regions of the NCFD. “Realization of the project has doubtless socio-economic value for our republic as well”, Askerov believes.
