Rustam Minnikhanov has held a meeting of the Russian State Council Commission on Construction, Housing and Utility Sector and Urban Environment on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum

On 16 June on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Russian State Council Commission on Construction, Housing and Utility Sector and Urban Environment held its meeting, which was a part of preparation to a session of the Presidium of the Russian State Council on the issues of “The Strategy of development of the construction sphere and housing and utility sector till 2023 with the forecast up to 2035”.

In his welcoming speech the Aide to the Russian President-the Secretary of the State Council Igor Levitin said that to solve cardinally the ambitious task of providing housing set forth by the Russian President for the first time in the history of the country it was necessary to keep smooth work of the construction branch and the housing and utility sector, which will make it possible to provide affordable and qualitative housing for the population and will have a substantial positive impact on economy of regions, on employment and incomes of millions of our residents.
In his turn Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who is also the chairman of the State Commission on regional development, said: “The construction sphere in our country has historically been a driver of its development”. He attached special attention to the necessity of systemic solutions as they will enable taking the infrastructure to the principally new level and bring contribution into providing economic and technological sovereignty of the country which is extremely important under sanctions. 
Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, who is the Chairman of the State Council Commission, reported about work done on implementation of decisions of the State Council Presidium session in 2019. In particular, he told about escrow accounts, the social mortgage programme, where 2.3trillion roubles of mortgage loans have already been issued, and 92.6m square meters of housing commissioned in Russia last year.
“As Marat Shakirzyanovich (Khusnullin) has said the construction branch makes a substantial contribution into the GDP of the country which amount to about 14.4 trillion roubles or 11 per cent of the GDP. To maintain the pace of construction and adapt the branch to new reality we are also considering a strategy of development of the construction sphere and housing and utility sector, one of the key points of which is improvement of living conditions. Today it is impossible without implementation of innovational technologies and eliminating administrative barriers which in turn influences the length of the construction and investments cycle”, Minnikhanov said.