26 February 2004 15:19
Russian city in financial crisis as water supply, federal cash dry up
[Presenter] The water crisis in Maritime Territory is becoming protracted. This became plain today after a meeting of
the Maritime Territory duma. The deputies violently rejected the governor [Sergey Darkin]'s proposal to revise the
budget and cut spending on social programmes. But they did acknowledge that they cannot come up with the money on their
own.
After the sacking of the Russian cabinet, people in the region are increasingly at the mercy of nature. Water
reserves, meanwhile, have almost dried up. Our own correspondent Igor Sorokin reports from Vladivostok.
[Correspondent] For a long time, Vladivostok patiently waited for the money which Moscow had promised to provide to
tackle the city's water supply problem. Various government bureaucrats, including Nikolay Koshman, head of the
State Committee on Construction, Architecture and Housing Policy, had promised to earmark the money needed to build
water intake facilities and reach new water tables. For several days in November, he travelled all around the
city's environs, studying the causes of the water crisis. But in the end, he never delivered any financial aid.
[Nikolay Markovtsev, member of the Maritime Territory legislature, captioned] Sadly, these statements of
Koshman's - that we have looked at things, got to the bottom of them, money is indeed needed and we will provide it
- just came to nothing.
[Correspondent] After the cabinet's dismissal, it became clear that the new ministers would take time to
investigate the situation anew. The city and territory governments decided they had no option but to dig deep into their
own pockets, effectively redrawing the entire annual budget. The deputies balked at the decision. The necessary sum of
R400m [approximately 14m dollars] was supposed to be raised by cutting what is called social items of expenditure. These
are child benefits, and aid for pensioners and for young families.
[Nikolay Sidorenko, member of the Maritime Territory legislature, captioned, shown speaking in parliament] The
proposal involves cutting allowances for children in kindergartens, boarding schools and so on. After taking all these
facts into account, our committee decided against approving this budget.
[Correspondent] The territory administration's proposal to revise the budget completely was eventually rejected
by the deputies and overwhelmingly voted down.
[Markovtsev] Unfortunately, not a kopeck of money will be earmarked for water. We will just be waiting for fair
weather to come from the sea. If there is rain, there will be water. If there is no rain, there will be no water.
[Correspondent] It is predicted that the water crisis in the city will come back with a vengeance in the spring. Some
say that the water now in the reservoirs will run out completely in March. It is far from clear now where the cash to
tackle this problem is supposed to come from. All the territory administration can do is to compromise with the
intransigent deputies.
[NTV] |
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