"North Caucasus" newspaper: news, politics, society, culture, customs, traditions of the Northern Caucasus

Not enough funds in the budget

Problems related to housing construction in Kabardino-Balkaria do not remain without attention of readers of our newspaper. To clarify the situation in this essential sphere, infringing on the interests of many citizens, we addressed the Minister of Construction and Architecture of KBR M. Afashagov with a request to comment on some of our questions.
- As we know, implementation of the national project «Affordable and comfortable housing – to the citizens of Russia» makes setbacks, in KBR including. What are the reasons for this?
- I would remind, - Mikhail Galimovich says, - that the priority national project «Affordable and comfortable housing – to the citizens of Russia» includes several directions. Those are: higher affordability of housing; increases in mortgage lending on housing; increase in volumes of housing construction and upgrading of public infrastructure; implementation of state obligations on providing housing for certain categories of citizens. While working in these directions, for the period of 2006-2008 we have put into operation 709.5 thousand square kilometers of housing in total. In order to raise affordability, we offer subsidies to young families at the expense of budgetary funds. The subsidies amount up to 40% of the average market value of real property within the rules of the total area. According to the lists of 2008, such grants were received by 347 families. Over the entire period of realizing the subprogram «Provision of young families with housing» within the federal target program «Housing» for 2002-2010, grants for the purchase (construction) of housing were received by 1037 young families. The citizens, standing in the lists of those in need of soft loans for the construction (purchase) of housing and having received credits in 2005-2007, are provided with compensation of a part of interest rates at the expense of the budget of KBR. These are 380 citizens of the republic. In KBR is established a Republican mortgage corporation. Its activity enables to increase the issuance of mortgage loans under general federal standards. These standards have a number of advantages over other mortgage programs. All this ensures the involvement of additional funds in the housing sector of the republic by means of refinancing the issued loans. In 2008, the Corporation has provided mortgage loans to 55 citizens in the amount of 65.5 million rubles. These funds were directed at the acquisition of residential premises. Last year, the corporation has also started realization of investment-and-construction projects in the housing sector. It acquired three ground areas in the «Predgorny» micro-district in Nalchik. This year, construction of residential houses will be launched on these sites. Currently the Mortgage Corporation provides funding and construction of a 12-storey residential building on Kuliyev Prospect, 15. Last year, at the expense of the federal budget 62 families improved their living conditions. They received public housing certificates provided by the federal law. These are citizens discharged from military service, victims of «Chernobyl», internally displaced people and the «northerners». If we talk about setbacks in realizing the national project, the main problem for their emergence is insufficiency of funds in the republican budget for the construction of housing for residents who are in the queue on need to improve housing conditions.
- Is social housing being constructed in the republic and what do the people on the waiting lists have to wait for?
- In 2008, at the expense of funds of the republican budget has been completed construction of a 168-apartment residential house in Profsoyuznaya street and a 51-apartment residential house in Musova street (reconstruction of a dormitory into an apartment house) in Nalchik, the flats in which are available for the people on the waiting lists. This year it is planned to reconstruct a dormitory in Kalmykova street, 241, into a 60-apartment residential building.
- In fact, housing is not available to all citizens of the republic, even those who managed to accumulate a small amount of funds for its purchase – prices exceed the limits, even at the secondary real estate market. Yet, where in Nalchik a middle-class citizen can buy an apartment?
- Affordability of housing is determined by such indicators as the cost of 1 square meter of total area, the income of citizens, the size of the interest rate on the loan. At the present time all the citizens in need of better living conditions can obtain a bank mortgage loan. And those citizens, who wish to purchase housing, will be assisted in choosing the best option by the agencies engaged in transactions at the residential real estate market.
- There are quite a lot of people in the republic standing on the waiting lists for housing, in Nalchik only there are about 5 thousand of them. What are their prospects for becoming owners of individual apartments in the coming years?
- In 2008 has been adopted the Republican target program «Housing» for the years 2008-2012. It provides construction of housing for citizens in need of accommodation under contracts of social hiring. The program includes measures for the provision of estates with municipal infrastructure for the construction of housing. At present, projects on planning and engineering of «Vostochny» district in Nalchik are under development. On the area of 260 hectares, it is planned to build 1 million square meters of total area of housing, as well as construct facilities of social and cultural destination. Residential construction includes erection of apartment houses at the expense of investors and the budget intended for those on the waiting lists, as well as individual cottage building.