Interview by Yeugeni Krishtalev. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
- What does opening of the first ski slope in Ingushetia mean to you personally and to Ingushetia as a whole?
- Today's opening in Ingushetia is quite a landmark event and enterprise, because tourism, the tourism business, is a youth sphere. It is important to involve young people in the tourism industry of the republic. We will teach young people so that they become able to provide quality services, so that even if these services do not reach a European standard, we will develop in this direction. It is the first stage, there are two more stages. It will become one of the best resorts in the North Caucasus.
We have built swimming pools. These pools will be used in the preparation of athletes for the Olympic reserve. We signed an agreement on this today. Not only in the winter, but also in the summer and the rest of the year there will be tourists, there will be guests, athletes coming to do sports, to swim, to do extreme sports - this is very important. It is important for the youth of the republic, in the first place, for all the citizens of the republic, and naturally for me as the chairman of the government, for whom employment is the number one issue.
- It has been noted that this investment project is in fact an independent one, it is not part of any development program of resorts of the Caucasus. How did you as Prime Minister of Ingushetia manage to do it?
- It was the idea of Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. Out of the blue at a meeting he set the objective of building a ski resort in the course of one year, a piste on the basis of the Dzherakh health resort complex. Honestly, for us it was a real shock, because we were unfamiliar with this business, it was new from the building point of view and perhaps also because we almost do not have tourists, etc. Moreover, we know that we are going to realize plans which are part of the tourism cluster, but the task was put forward and we have succeeded. It is a pity that the weather has let us down, the day before we had a very powerful blizzard. We thought that the snow would stay for some time, it was expected that this afternoon it would be down to -2 in the mountainous parts of Ingushetia. But as they say, we make plans and God laughs, so it turned out that there was no snow, we didn't manage to ski, but everything else went well.
- In addition to this facility there are many other sites, or some other projects are being implemented. What can you name or mention from the list?
- We have a lot of scheduled projects as part of the federal target program for Ingushetia from 2010 - 2016. We are successfully developing and implementing this program. There are a great number of objects in the social sphere as well as in the sphere of the real economy. I would like to particularly highlight investment projects. The last couple of years were marked by a great inflow of investment, powerful investors in the republic. We have built and we will soon put it into operation the "Mel" integrated plan. A strong investor has built it at his own expense, and it will provide great impetus to agricultural workers and farmers. We used to have a problem - there was no one to sell one's harvest to, and the crops were usually exported outside the country, which suggests that we were paid only a partial value for the harvest. I would like to highlight the sports complex built for 1 billion 340 million rubles. This sports center will enable young Ingush people to take part in sports on a large scale. Facilities similar to a sports complex, such as the opening of ski slopes and in general the development of tourism in the mountainous part of Ingushetia, is a great incentive for the country, both in terms of jobs and employment as well as of good, athletic, important leisure activities for young people in terms of their physical and spiritual development; but certainly it also provides an inflow of capital to the budget of the republic.
- What projects will be implemented in the republic from this program, and what is the average time framework of their implementation?
- If you're referring to the program that is being prepared until 2025, I will have to say that it is almost completed, there are several administrative steps still to do. In terms of the participation of the republic, we have fully justified our needs and presented them. I must say that, as far as I know, the idea, the initiative and implementation of this program belongs to Alexander G. Khloponin. We call him the chief Caucasian, because for us it is a solution to perhaps 70 percent of all the problems in the long term for our region. Why do I say 70 percent? Because one cannot solve all the problems, because every society, every region is always developing. While we are implementing this program, our population is growing, we have a very good birth rate, every year we have up to 9000 population growth. Certainly, the situation will have changed by the time we finish implementing this program. An absolute goal can never be achieved, but by 70-80 percent we will solve all the problems in the social and economic sectors of the republic.
