23 March 2004 23:45
Russian finance, economics ministers explain army housing plans
Moscow, 23 March: Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin has announced that when the new system of housing loans for
military starts to work, the waiting list for obtaining a flat could shorten by 24,000 families a year. He said this at
a meeting in the Defence Ministry, which was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At present, according to Kudrin, 136,000 families of servicemen are experiencing housing shortage. "[Without the
mortgage scheme] we could get rid of such a waiting list only in 44 years," he noted. However, the minister
continued, when the new home-loan system is working, the waiting times will shorten significantly faster. Apart from
mortgages, we will not stop financing service accommodation," the finance minister stressed.
Kudrin reported that the state will allocate R17bn for social programmes for servicemen each year. About 20,000
people enter military service a year.
The president, in turn, confirmed that the introduction of mortgage system for the military will not affect other
social programmes in the army. He announced this at the meeting in the Defence Ministry.
When using the new mortgage system to finance housing for servicemen "other social programmes for servicemen
will not be reduced", the head of state said. He noted, among other things, that in 2005 the state will allocate
R2.43bn for servicemen's housing alone.
The head of the Economic Development Ministry German Gref noted that financing the system of housing loans will
require R1.8bn, whereas the remaining funds will be spent, for example, on construction in closed military units or in
units which are located in areas which are remote or difficult to access. Gref stressed that such construction will
continue. "This is an important thing to note", the president added. [Passage omitted: Gref notes the military
are free to let out their flats if they so wish.]
[ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1057 gmt 23 Mar 04 reported the following:
According to Gref, in 2005 altogether 60,000 military could become participants in the programme. This is about
20,000 graduates of military institutes, about 4,000 reservists who join on contract, 36,000 non-commissioned officers
when they reach three years of service on their first contract. Gref stressed that in order for these servicemen to take
part in the housing-loan scheme, R1.8bn a year has to be allocated in the budget. At the same time Gref said that
according to forecast, in 2025 the number of servicemen taking part in this programme could reach 600-650,000.
According to Gref, "as a result, servicemen will have the opportunity to improve their housing conditions".
Gref stressed that the economists are financially interested that servicemen become owners of flats as soon as possible,
as this would remove the risk of accumulated savings losing their value due to growing property prices. Gref announced
that at present "the average cost of a flat measuring 54 square metres in Russia amounts to R650,000".
Gref stressed that after the relevant law is adopted, " the budget will every year have a separate item for
transfer of funds to named accumulation accounts of servicemen".]
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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