Russia wanted to halve the number of single-industry towns

The Ministry of Economic Development has published two draft government decrees on the reform of the approach to the problem of single-industry towns. About it writes Kommersant.

The department proposes to establish criteria by which certain settlements can be attributed to single-industry towns. In particular, it is planned to delete from the list cities that are located closer than 50 kilometers from the capitals of the regions. According to estimates, residents of such monotowns can get to the centers within an hour, leveling the tension in the monotown’s labor market.

Thus, the number of single-industry towns will be reduced from 321 to 163. It is noted that the innovations will make it possible to allocate funds to save and support the remaining single-industry towns.

It is also planned to remove restrictions on the benefits of priority development territories for single-industry towns. Instead of a closed list of opportunities for obtaining them, the ministry proposes to keep only restrictions on the support of mono-enterprises according to the standard scheme for residents and prohibiting the production of excisable goods by them.

The plans of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to revise the list of Russian single-industry towns were announced in June. According to the chief managing partner for urban development of VEB.RF and the general director of the Foundation for the Development of Single-Industry Towns Irina Makieva, the reason was the transition of several dozen single-industry towns to the status of territories with a stable economy. “We see this and are very happy with these results. Monotowns have done everything possible and impossible to change the structure of their economy – to move from dependence to sustainable development. The question of revising the list has been standing for a long time. This work is carried out by the Ministry of Economic Development. We will work according to the list determined by the government, ”Makieva said.

The issue of reducing the number of single-industry towns has been discussed since 2019. A single-industry town is a settlement in which at least 20 percent of the working population is employed in a city-forming enterprise.

#Russia #wanted #halve #number #singleindustry #towns



source https://pledgetimes.com/russia-wanted-to-halve-the-number-of-single-industry-towns/