Region

Lukashenko urges comprehensive development of Mogilev Oblast's southeast

KLIMOVICHI, 25 April (BelTA) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko demands a comprehensive approach to improving all walks of life in southeastern districts of Mogilev Oblast that were affected by the Chernobyl accident. The Belarusian leader made this statement at a meeting to discuss the social and economic development of the eastern part of Mogilev Oblast on 25 April, BelTA has learnt.

Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that he always visits the contaminated areas in the run-up to this tragic date – the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. “Your region was chosen for the session and the President’s visit somewhat unexpectedly. However, I think executives need to get used to it,” the President said.

The President noted that there was one more reason behind his decision to come to Mogilev Oblast. In 2012 the Mogilev Oblast Executive Committee was instructed to come up with a comprehensive development program for the eastern districts of Mogilev Oblast. “Let us say, the southeastern districts of the region. A number of districts were marked on the map. I do not know why Bykhov District got here, too. I think we should consider assigning it to Mogilev, it is a big district. There are multiple problems there and I think that we need to tackle them with the help of Mogilev. We need to think about it. Back then, we talked about seven districts of the region,” Alexander Lukashenko said. The President emphasized that after visiting this area and flying over it many times, he came to the conclusion that the area does not get enough attention. “I asked the oblast executive committee, aides and the government to analyze what should be done to make living conditions in this area the same as in Gorky, Shklov and the north of Mogilev Oblast,” the President said.

He continued: “We took our time, we suffered and waited for someone to help us, a gift from heaven. After some time we started working to recover the contaminated areas, create safe living conditions for people and an environment conducive to intensive social and economic development of this territory”.

The President noted that people’s attitudes changed. “They do not want to go anywhere anymore. They live here, build housing, give birth to and raise children and want a clear future. Not like it was 10-20 years ago when people were not sure whether they wanted to stay here. People decided to stay, but they want a clearer perspective, they want to know how they will live and where they will work. Therefore, we need a comprehensive approach to improving all the fields of human activity here. First of all, we should build up the capacity in order to give jobs and decent salaries to people,” Alexander Lukashenko noted.

The President reminded that the regional authorities upheld this approach and promised to elaborate and implement effective programs. “However, it did not go further than words. The region still performs poorly and is stuck in the slow lane, although we spent a huge amount of financial and other resources over these years to upgrade companies, decontaminate land and so on. In 2010 we started transferring money from the central budget to the regions to finance Chernobyl recovery programs. They said they knew better how to use it more efficiently. They insisted and I agreed,” Alexander Lukashenko said. In 2013 alone, this eastern region received about Br400 billion in subventions from the central budget as part of the post-Chernobyl recovery program for 2011-2015 and for the period until 2020. However, the problems were not resolved.