21 April 2004 09:37
Russian minister unhappy with pace of quake restoration in Siberian republic
Russian Minister of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief Sergey Shoygu has criticized the leadership of the
Republic of Altay in southern Siberia for doing next to nothing to clear up the aftermath of an earthquake in September
2003, RTR Russia TV has said, reporting from Barnaul, the republican capital.
Despite the allocation of almost R160m from Moscow, only R26m has so far been put to use and the local government was
unable to explain the delays in the restoration work, the TV said.
The TV showed a clearly angry Shoygu addressing a public meeting from a platform: "Do explain this to me,
because I can not understand it - how is it that you are unable to build 400 homes in the space of seven months. You do
have the money and you now also have a vibrant housing construction market, a huge number of builders. If you have no
local builders, your neighbours will. If your neighbours don't, that is fine, too, because you will find them in
Novosibirsk or Kemerovo, so that is what I want to understand."
[RTR Russia TV] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
