A plenary meeting on this topic has taken place at EXPOCENTRE Fairgrounds. The event opened the accompanying programme of Russian Construction Week 2021.
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Marat Khusnullin addressed the meeting participants via video conference. He stressed that construction is the driver of economic development and many territories. The President of the Russian Federation has set a serious task - to build a billion square metres of housing in the country. Every fifth square metre of housing should become new within 10 years.
Financial, organisational and legislative resources are concentrated for this purpose, the deputy prime minister said. He urged the participants in the event to submit their proposals on what needs to be done to simplify the work of the construction sector and improve its condition.
During the meeting Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation Irek Faizullin noted that the event was part of Russian Construction Week which brought together different professionals of the construction industry. In particular, he highlighted five strategic initiatives within the established working group "Aggressive Infrastructure Development". These are balanced spatial development, new housing opportunities, ecology - the basis for life, infrastructure breakthrough and a new rhythm of construction. According to the minister, last year showed that the country's construction industry was able to meet the challenges even when construction was suspended in 51 regions. But overall, the results were no less than in 2019. In 2020, more than 80 million square metres of housing was built, of which more than 41 million square metres were multifamily housing.
Sergey Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also stressed the importance of the construction industry, which employs almost 10% of the working population and is linked to 30 other sectors. During the pandemic, the construction sector proved resilient under the most difficult conditions. The Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has recently renewed its cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Construction. The system of chambers together with the Ministry will work together on a number of issues. First of all, this is a legal framework that would provide housing construction with a normal legislative framework. Work will be done to attract both Russian and foreign investment, to train personnel, to develop arbitration and mediation, and to develop exhibition activities, said the head of the Chamber.
Speaking at the meeting, Sergey Stepashin, Chairman of the Public Council of the Russian Ministry of Construction, noted with satisfaction that the Meeting was taking place in an offline format as part of Russian Construction Week. "This means that we are close to defeating the pandemic. The past year has not been easy. We had to make quick and effective decisions that allowed the construction industry to keep up the pace of implementation of the national project “Housing and Urban Environment”, he said.
According to Sergey Lyovkin, Head of the Moscow City Urban Planning Policy Department, Russian Construction Week is an important platform for exchanging experience and proposing breakthrough innovative ideas. He urged his colleagues to actively participate in the Week’s programme of supporting events, which "includes various really interesting sessions organised by federal and regional authorities". The Head of the Moscow Department detailed the progress, results and upcoming projects of the Moscow housing renovation programme. In 10 years, it is planned to build 62 million square metres of housing in the capital.
The plenary meeting was also addressed by the Managing Director of DOM. RF Alexey Nidens, President of the National Association of Home Builders Leonid Kazinets, Chairman of the Board of the Moscow Investors Club and Director General of PIK Sergey Gordeev, President of the National Association of Builders Anton Glushkov, CEO of Strizhi Group Igor Belokobylsky, board member and Vice President for Moscow region of Etalon Group Maxim Berlovich, Chairman of YugStroyImperial Nikolay Amosov, President of Inteco AO Alexander Nikolayev, and Vice President of KORTROS Group Philippe Tretyakov.
The participants discussed state support measures for the construction industry, mortgage loans, personnel training and other issues.
The plenary meeting was followed by the award ceremony for the winners of the Urban Development Contest "Top Residential Complexes 2021". Honorary diplomas were presented by Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation Irek Faizullin. This season, 1,346 residential complexes participated in the 161 nominations of the competition, which are being built by 675 developers in 74 regions of Russia.
The Russian Construction Week programme: https://www.rosbuild-expo.ru/ru/events/
Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO