Security in schools, pyramids, vaccination and drought: main points from the message of Tatarstan's president

Five tasks the president of Tatarstan sets for the industry of Tatarstan

On 8 October, as part of the annual address to the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan on the internal and external situation of the republic, President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov set five tasks for the Tatarstan industry before the government. First, according to him, it is necessary to increase its efficiency, which means to increase labour productivity, introduce innovations and digitalise production. Alas, he noted with regret, at the recent Kazan Digital Week forum it turned out that the readiness index of Tatarstan enterprises for digital transformation is only 2,7 points out of 5, only every fourth enterprise introduces innovations. The majority of companies either do not deal with this issue enough or do not deal with it at all — which Minnikhanov considered a signal to accelerate work in these areas.

The second task is to increase exports. This task goes on from year to year, and in the structure of republican exports, almost 70% is still occupied by oil, petroleum products or petrochemical products. At the same time, enterprises with billions of revenues are successfully operating in the region, but with “zero exports”, which surprised the president. He recommended the Tatarstan industry to focus on the supply of high-added value products, that is, obtained on the basis of several stages of processing of source mineral raw materials, in chemistry and mechanical engineering.

The third and fourth tasks are import substitution and industrial safety. Moreover, the president of the Republic of Tatarstan drew attention to that a third of the republic's imports are machine-building products — and these are the investment niches that should be occupied by Tatarstan enterprises. As for industrial safety, resonant cases at industrial facilities of the Republic of Tatarstan occur almost annually.

Finally, the fifth task, no less, and perhaps, even more painful, is the solution of the human resources issue. This issue has previously caused serious concern among the regional authorities, but now Rustam Minnikhanov has noticed that he is already causing the same concern among many companies of the Republic of Tatarstan. So serious that the president promised to hold a meeting of the Tatarstan Security Council on this topic in the near future. The head of the republic himself noted in other parts of his message in one way or another that the authorities are doing everything possible to solve the personnel issue: it is not the first year that a network of resource centres has been created, which are proposed to be opened in all priority areas.

What the head of the Republic of Tatarstan instructed the companies of petrochemical and defence complexes to do

The president made it clear that the petrochemical complex is still the highest priority — this is evidenced by the 70% share in the export of the Republic of Tatarstan. A number of strategic projects important for the republic are being implemented now. Among them, there are the production of hydrogen, lubricants and the catalytic cracking unit of Tatneft PJSC (four more units worth 53 billion rubles are to be commissioned by the end of the year). The total investments in the TANECO complex alone will amount to 470 billion rubles by the end of the year.

According to Minnikhanov, the implementation of projects at the TANECO and TAIF-NK complexes will allow over 23 million tonnes of oil to be processed annually in the Republic of Tatarstan.

“Nizhnekamskneftekhim and Kazanorgsintez are facing the tasks of commissioning their own power plants, as well as the development of production facilities and, most importantly, the construction of the EP-600 olefin complex. Further ensuring the implementation of these and other important projects is provided for by the agreement between the government of the Republic of Tatarstan and SIBUR-Holding," the president of the Republic of Tatarstan said.

The second most important priority area of the economy of the Republic of Tatarstan is machine-building one. There, in addition to the giant KAMAZ PJSC, there are a dozen factories, many of which were originally “tailored” for the maintenance of the defence state order. Minnikhanov, having listed the key companies, simultaneously gave instructions to their management. For example, he recommended the Kazan Aircraft Production Association to complete the in-depth modernisation of the plant and ensure the execution of the state defenсe order. Minnikhanov advised the Kazan Helicopters to fully load its capacities and enter the serial production of Ansat and Mi-38 helicopters. And to the Zelenodolsk Shipyard, he gave the instructions to increase the volume of civilian products, including the construction of hydrofoil ships of the new Meteor 2020 project.

“The president of the country has set the task to bring the diversification of the defence industry to 30%. So far, this level has been reached only at five enterprises of the Republic of Tatarstan out of 27," Rustam Minnikhanov noted with regret.

At the same time, the president criticised the local authorities responsible for the development of SMEs on industrial sites in the regions of the Republic of Tatarstan, where things are going not so rosy. So far, only 10% of the industrial production of the republic is formed by residents of the business support infrastructure created in Tatarstan.

And if some of the sites operate successfully — Alabuga, Innopolis, Khimgrad, then, “despite the funds allocated by the state, they are working inefficiently in some areas”. In particular, in Novosheshminsky, Buinsky, Aktanyshsky and Mamadyshsky districts.

Tatarstan authorities will prepare for carbon tax with the help of scientists

Finally, in the economic block of the address, the head of Tatarstan mentioned the environmental issue, which, by the way, actually formally even preceded this very block. Because, according to the president, the environment is not only clean rivers, but also a new challenge facing the economy, and environmental friendliness of production is becoming one of the criteria for the competitiveness of goods and organisations, the demand of consumers.

“In connection with the planned introduction of the international carbon tax in 2026, we are faced with the task of developing a set of measures to reduce the carbon footprint, as well as the development of a circular economy involving an increase in the recycling of resources," said the president of the Republic of Tatarstan, instructing the government of the Republic of Tatarstan to prepare proposals together with universities and industrial enterprises.

Speaking about the environment in the region, the head of the republic also mentioned a major national project for the rehabilitation of the Volga River and the elimination of silt fields, focused on air quality problems. Moreover, recently, he noted, relevant complaints have been received about the Vostochny waste landfill in Kazan, as well as on sites in the Pestrechinsky and Laishevsky districts — in connection with the emissions of poultry waste.

“Of course, such situations are unacceptable. We have already started the work on the elimination of landfills near the village of Samosyrovo. I appeal to the heads of all enterprises about the need to introduce advanced waste recycling technologies to exclude the facts of harm to atmospheric air and water bodies. I ask law enforcement and supervisory authorities to take this issue under control," said the president of the Republic of Tatarstan.

We can't build anymore the way it was built before

Speaking of suburbs, Rustam Minnikhanov also paid attention to their problems in his message to the State Council, speaking about the goal of the next ten years to build 31 million square metres of housing. It is no longer possible to build “as before”, the head of Tatarstan made it clear.

“The interests of developers often do not correlate with strategic plans for the development of the territory. As a result, there is an overload of the transport network within the agglomerations, a shortage of engineering and social infrastructure, and an imbalance in the labour market," the president said.

According to him, to solve the problem, the coordination of housing construction issues and territorial development programmes is needed, and as part of this approach, Tatarstan will continue working with the federal centre on the construction of large outbound highways from Kazan, the development of the Great Kazan Ring, the Bolshoy Zelenodolsk project, and the development of the Laishevsky hub, the head of Tatarstan promised.

Situation in terms of temperatures and precipitation was close to 2010

Another major problem this year has been the drought, because of which an emergency regime was even introduced in the Republic of Tatarstan. According to the level of temperatures and precipitation, the weather was close to the year 2010, the president of the Republic of Tatarstan drew attention. They have to hastily introduce moisture-saving progressive technologies, which yielded results: despite the heat, 3,5 times more grain was harvested than in 2010: 2,4 million tonnes.

“Of course, it will not be possible to solve the issue only by reclamation measures. Special attention should be paid to agricultural science. We are waiting for drought-resistant varieties and innovative agrotechnological measures.”

At the same time, the president of the Republic of Tatarstan was surprised that in 2021 only a tenth of all crops have been insured — agricultural insurance tools need to be implemented more actively, he believes.

“Immune developemnt depends on you and me, Tatarstan citizens!”

Finally, Rustam Minnikhanov in his message focused on the low rates of vaccination in the Republic of Tatarstan, despite that the pandemic is not over yet, and the virus remains a direct threat to the lives of citizens. He cited the vaccination rate abroad as an example: 65% of the population has already been vaccinated in Germany, 65% — in France, 81% — in the UAE, 77% — in Spain, 74% — in China. In Tatarstan, more than 60% of the population has been vaccinated only in some areas — in Aktanyshsky and Novosheshminsky.

“We are fully provided with vaccines, vaccination points have been expanded. Immune developemnt depends on you and me, Tatarstan citizens! I would like to add that in 2021 the government of the Russian Federation allocated 2 billion rubles to combat the spread of hazardous infections. Kazan has entered the list of nine major cities where the implementation of the federal project “Sanitary Shield” will begin: PCR centres will be opened and sanitary control at border checkpoints — Kazan and Begishevo — will be strengthened. It is necessary to carry out all works as soon as possible and create a reliable barrier to dangerous infections and viruses," the president of the republic said.