A QUESTION OF SURVIVAL

Situation is critical

The question we pose is the following:

"What are, in your opinion, the urgent problems which define the principles of stable development of Russia's Northern territories, in connection with the economic, ecological, technical, legal and other aspects of exploitation of the richest resources of the Far North, steady raising of the rate of the local production, preservation and development of the existent infrastructure, the very problems that should be reflected in the federal laws adopted by the State Duma?"

The response we get is as follows:

Rafael Gimalov,
State Duma deputy, representative
of the Koryak Autonomous Region

         The economy and social sphere of the Koryak Autonomous Region are in crisis at present. The regional economy is suffering from an acute shortage of fuel. In the first place this is happening because the funds allocated from the federal budget are sufficient for only 40 per cent of the energy required by the region.
        The heating system of the communal service is in a state of disrepair because the repair works of the boiler-houses and the heating mains have not been carried out for 15 years as there is a shortage of money. All this makes the administration of the region run into debts again and again and with the lack of budget money, allotted at the federal level, leads to the broadening of the financial crisis in the region.
        As a result, the population suffers a lot, the heating system gets out of action, the inhabitants of the region are left without warmth, electricity and water supply. Because of this, kindergartens and hospitals are closed, and villages suffer severely from lack of heating..
        The general decline, bankruptcy of the enterprises and destruction is characteristic of the present day economy. Five fish plants and fish farms became bankrupt during the last four years. The total number of reindeer was reduced sharply; the threat of extinction of deer becomes more and more real. The participation of the Koryak Autonomous region in the mastering of the coastal sea bio-resources reduces from year to year and nowadays it is estimated at a little above four per cent. In its turn all this leads to the increase of Unemployment which makes up 9,3 per cent (First of January 2000) among the local population is as high as 70-80 per cent.
        The drop in the living standards of the population still goes on, with the rise in prices, which in turn leads to an increase in wages. But the most scandalous matter is this one: the people have not received their wages for years; in particular reindeer-breeders constitute this group of the population. The social situation is aggravated by the increase in the sickness rate among the population. Such dangerous diseases as tuberculosis spread more and more and have acquired the nature of an epidemic. Lack of medicine, equipment, disinfectants, bed-clothes and food is sharply felt in the hospitals.
        The administration of the region pays insufficient attention to the needs of the population, does not exercise the necessary control over the functioning of the local budget sphere.
        The drop in the living standards, increasing social stratification of the population in the society, lack of the vital every day necessities for life in the severe Northern climate lead to the growth of social tension.
        To start practically the work for the solution of the complicated socio-economic problems of the Koryak Autonomous region we need, from the legislative point of view, the following conditions to be met:
        The allocation of the finances, meant for the Northern regions, and our region in particular, should be included in the separate line of the federal budget in the annual federal laws concerning the State budget of the Russian Federation.

• The elaboration of a bill concerning the introduction of the regime of a free economical zone in the Koryak region.
• The adoption of fishing laws and the elaboration of new bills concerning the complex regulation of all the questions in connection with the development, management and use of the sea bio-resources, taking into consideration specific features of the Northern regions.