Rustam Minnikhanov has proposed to prolong the reduced-price mortgage in Russia till 2024

On 17 February in Moscow Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, who is the head of the Russian State Duma Commission on Construction, Housing and Utility Sector and Urban Environment, took part in a joint meeting of the Commission and the Russian Ministry of Construction.  Aide to Russian President Igor Levitin, who is the Secretary of the State Council, and Russian Minister of Construction and Housing and Utility Sector Irek Fayzullin also took part in the meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, Minnikhanov said that the draft project of the Strategy of development the construction industry and housing and utility sector of Russia was considered in greater detail last year with participation of all regions that submitted their proposals, part of which were taken into consideration during the process of Strategy improvement. In the whole the draft project is supported and we propose to submit it for consideration of the Presidium of the Russian State Council, he said: 

Informing about the work done by the Commission, Minnikhanov said: “We have done huge work with the support of Russian President Putin, the Government of the country and the headquarters under the leadership of Marat Shakirzyanovich (Russian Deputy Prime Minister) and the Russian Ministry of Construction. Transition to escrow accounts and the social mortgage program made it possible to decrease tension and support the construction sphere during the pandemic.”

He continued: “This and other measures enabled commissioning the record amount of 92.6m square meters of housing in the country and Tatarstan for the first time has overcome the boundary of 3m square meters. However to reach the objective of commissioning 120m square meters yearly by 2030 set forth by the Russian President  we should focus on certain issues. And one of them is  to ensure demand on new housing. One on the key measures stated in the Strategy in this respect is the reduced-price mortgage program which will involve only certain categories of residents while there are no other real tools of stimulating housing demand in the Strategy yet. That is why we propose to prolong the program till 2024 for all categories of citizens, maintaining the yearly interest rate of 7 per cent and increasing the mortgage loan from 3 to 6 m roubles. We also propose to include individual construction into this program which will help to curb prices in the primary market.

Moving to issues of the housing and utility sector, Tatarstan President focused on such questions as the management of this sphere and licensing of the management companies, prevention of gas explosions in multi-apartment houses, the capital overhaul and especially of the houses, which are cultural heritage sites, and facilitating energy and resource saving by installing corresponding meters.

Minnikhanov paid special attention to issues of investment programs to be implemented in the housing and utility sector and tools to control their implementation, water tariffs and necessity to introduce amendments into the waste management legislation.

“The summarized proposals are submitted to the Russian Ministry of Construction for its consideration”, -he concluded.

Answering questions from the press after the meeting, Minnikhanov said: “Decisions approved by the Russian President in 2019 have given their positive outcomes. However, we are facing new challenges. We have considered Strategy of development the construction industry and housing and utility sector of Russia in detail, taking into account proposals from all regions of the country. The largest section of the strategy is dedicated to issues of housing and utility sector as this is a very sensitive and important topic. We are sure that Russian President will support us and we will do good joint work”.