‘Suburban residents are the same as Kazan residents’: Metshin asked Minnikhanov to double his support

Average salary in Kazan — 90,500 rubles

Sanctions and foreign policy pressure did not prevent Kazan from maintaining its growth rate last year. The city mobilized 350 billion rubles in taxes. Budget revenues amounted to over 58 billion rubles, expenses — over 54 billion, the lion's share of which fell on the socio-cultural sphere.

Industrial production index — 109.6%. The volume of shipped goods of own production increased by almost 20%, to 840 billion rubles. In the total volume of shipments, 80% is made up of products of the manufacturing industry (+20%). The main contribution was made by enterprises of the military-industrial complex. The volume of gross territorial product by the end of the year is expected to be over 1.6 trillion rubles.

“The average salary at large and medium-sized enterprises of the city increased by 21% and exceeded 90 thousand rubles. Kazan has improved its position among million-plus cities in Russia in this indicator, moving from 4th to 3rd place, and 10 years ago, let me remind you, we were eighth,” Ilsur Metshin said in his report.

The city was visited by 4.5 million tourists, but the capital is moving towards the bar of 5 million guests per year. Last year, they spent more than 30 billion rubles in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, or a third more than the year before.

Kazan turned out to be the only million-plus city in the Volga Federal District with positive birth rate dynamics — 19,594 babies were born in a year, or 1.5% more than in 2023. The trend towards large families is growing, the mayor noted.

“It would be fair if we received not a third, but two thirds”

Construction is actively developing: record volumes of housing were delivered in Kazan — over 1.4 million sq. m. This is 41% of the amount introduced in the republic, and if you count it together with the suburbs, it comes to 70.8%, the mayor noted.

“It is no secret that the residents of these suburbs are essentially the same Kazan residents: they work, study, take their children to schools and kindergartens, play sports and relax in Kazan. And it would be fair if we received support for the development of social infrastructure from the republic — not a third, as now, but almost two-thirds.”

Kazan also broke the record for the amount of funds spent on road construction work — 45.3 billion rubles. Large projects were implemented — Voznesensky Trakt, Gorkovskoye Shosse highway, and the total area of road repair and construction amounted to more than 2.4 million square metres, or a third more than a year earlier.

SME turnover increased to 856 billion rubles

Small businesses in Kazan, according to the mayor, have adapted to the reality and showed growth in all indicators. The number of SMEs increased by more than a thousand — to 83,872. The share of small and medium businesses in the gross territorial product is 42.5%. The number of people employed is 384,000 people, or a third of the city's working population. Turnover increased by 13% and amounted to 856 billion rubles. Tax revenues to the city treasury from small and medium businesses increased by 45% and amounted to 11.7 billion rubles — this is almost half of the tax revenues to the budget.

Today, 642 residents work in six industrial parks of Kazan. The volume of their shipped products is 102 billion rubles, tax payments to the consolidated budget are 12.5 billion. A new large-scale project is Severnye Vorota site, where SIBUR and other residents are implementing projects with an investment volume of 88 billion rubles and will create a thousand new jobs.

Advertising revenues to the budget exceeded 383 million, and the average annual income was 410 million rubles. The volume of the Kazan outdoor advertising market is one of the largest among cities with a population of over a million — 977 million rubles (according to the results of the first half of 2024).

The city expects an increase in investment by the end of the year — 389 billion (+38 billion) rubles. Among the investment projects at the session, the Aviation Interiors on the territory of Khimgrad, ART Centre complex on Nikolay Yershov Street, construction of FIZRA Sports Centre next to Salavat Kupere residential complex.

“We'll consider it. But it won't work out all at once”

Metshin identified the issue of waste disposal as a potentially serious problem. “In Kazan, this the only landfill on Mamadyshsky Trakt highway whose second stage was opened recently has been operating for 3 days. But its capacity is designed for three years," he said adding that the city is promoting new environmental projects.

City deputies drew attention to a number of other pressing issues. In particular, Rustam Ramazanov pointed out the deplorable state of storm drains in the city and asked whether there are programs for their repair. Currently, the city has 500 km of storm sewer networks. The mayor admitted that their repair is being carried out “on a residual basis for now.”

Dinara Khalimdarova asked when Kazan will have the option of post-payment at municipal parking lots. This is how drivers in Moscow and nine other cities pay. Ilsur Metshin said that the city continues to work in this direction, and added that on 22 sections of roads near social institutions, drivers will have additional free time from 15 to 30 minutes.

Lyudmila Andreyeva addressed not the mayor, but directly to the rais of the republic, asking for his assistance in launching a separate program for the major repairs of kindergartens. According to her, many preschool institutions require renovation.

“We will consider it carefully, there is a programme. But you must understand that today there is a special military operation and the whole country must work, including our republic, on those tasks that are related to defence capability. It is no secret that we need large resources to solve these problems. Therefore, everything you said, we will definitely implement, but not everything will work out at once,” replied Rustam Minnikhanov.

A rehabilitation centre to be created in Kazan

The topic of the special operation was also addressed by the chairman of the Coordination Council for Assistance to the Special Military Operation, co-founder and chairman of the Tatarstan branch of the interregional public organisation Union of Paratroopers. Yuri Suvorov proposed creating a suburban rehabilitation centre for special military operation participants in Kazan, where fighters could improve their health and receive psychological help. According to him, such a centre could be organised on the basis of one of the non-working children's suburban camps that has not yet undergone major repairs. After the reconstruction, children would rest here in the summer, and the rest of the time, fighters could take rehabilitation courses and participate in group classes. Rustam Minnikhanov welcomed this idea and promised support.

Alexey Serov addressed the transport problem. According to him, there is an “obvious crisis” in the sphere of passenger transportation by public transport in Kazan. Eight carriers left, leaving behind their cars and people. The city residents themselves have no reason to use the Transport Card, and compensation for transportation of beneficiaries is lower than the cost of the trip. He separately focused on the reduction and closure of bus routes and the need to switch to gross contracts in the transportation sector. In addition, a program is needed to update the infrastructure for electric transport: many tram lines have become unusable, and the contact networks on trolleybus routes are also worn out.

Rustam Minnikhanov called all the issues voiced “very serious” and promised to take them into work: “I think we will try to take everything you said, we have a good memory. We will try to prepare solutions for many of these issues. Yes, they will not be resolved immediately, but look — there is a solution for the communal infrastructure. And for the courtyards, I think we will complete this programme in a year or two, and we will have the opportunity to solve other serious problems.”