EXPECTED RESULTS
OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN
In order to
evaluate the overall outcome of implementation of measures proposed by the Strategic Plan,
we must take into account not merely the direct results of each measure, but also the
indirect influence of the changes taking place on other spheres and aspects of life. We
must also, though, evaluate the overall cumulative effect produced by implementation of
the entire package of measures contained in the plan. Extensive analysis has enabled us to
identify the following main results to be expected as a result of implementation of the
Strategic Plan:
- the creation of at least
200,000 new jobs;
- an increase in the real
income of citizens of not less than 15%;
- an increase in life
expectancy of 3 years;
- an increase in the
average amount of living space per person (i.e. a person's average share of the floor area
of an apartment) to 20 square meters; a reduction in the number of communal apartments;
improvement in the quality of housing and of housing-maintenance services;
- an increase in budget
revenues of not less than 20% in real terms (as a result of economic growth and better
collection of taxes); improvement in the effectiveness of expenditure of municipal
resources (as a result of reformation of public services, the introduction of targeted
social aid, and the develop ment of a rational investment program).
The growth in municipal
revenue will enable the city to use public resources for solving the most pressing social
and economic problems and for modernizing the transport and engineering infrastructure, as
a result of which it will be possible to:
- improve the transport
situation: the average time for a single journey within the city should not exceed 40
minutes;
- improve the quality of
the environment, provide high-quality drinking water and reduce air pollution; meet
international ecological standards in all the above areas.
In order to achieve the
above results the Strategic Plan proposes specific measures in the following spheres:
- the creation in St.
Petersburg of a maximally favorable business climate, so as to attract resources to the
city for development of companies and businesses in all sectors of the economy; support of
small and medium business;
- assistance for city
enterprises in obtaining federal and international contracts and in promoting competitive
products on the world and Russian markets;
- reconstruction of the
port, airport and the Oktyabrskaya Railway;
- the switching to St.
Petersburg of not less than 20 million additional tons of cargo out of the total volume of
Russia's foreign trade; the development of related industries;
- utilization of the city's
research potential; reinforcement of St. Petersburg's role as a national center of
innovation and high technology;
- transformation of St.
Petersburg into a center of higher education for all regions of Russia, the CIS countries
and a number of developing countries, and into the major international center for study of
the Russian language and culture;
- training and retraining
programs for workers, engineers and managers; modification of the course programs of
higher- and intermediate-education institutions to take account of demand generated by the
labor market;
- strengthening of
cooperation in science and manufacturing; the application of advanced engineering and
design in industry; the orientation of applied science on market demand;
- implementation of a
program for making St. Petersburg one of the world's cultural centers; planning of
world-class international-level events; attraction of visitors to the city; transformation
of cultural events into a tourism product; preparations for the 300th-anniversary
celebrations;
- an increase in numbers of
visiting tourists to about 3 million tourists annually; development of theinfrastructure
needed for this: inexpensive hotels, transport, a friendly environment, signs and posters,
information about the city; improvement of the city's image worldwide; advertising; the
attraction to the city of young people from all over the world;
- use of St. Petersburg's
health-care system and clinical facilities to turn the city into the major medical center
for the North West of Russia (or in some specialist fields - the major medical center for
the entire Baltic region);
- integration of St.
Petersburg into the world information network; development of modern communications and
information systems in education, industry and administration.
- Implementation of the
Strategic Plan's measures related to improvement of the urban environment and reform of
municipal utilities will make it possible to:
- increase the volume of
housing construction in the city as a result of more efficient use of municipal resources
and increased market demand (development of the system of housing loans; reduction in
construction costs); set standards for municipal housing; provide municipal housing to
priority categories on the waiting list;
- reconstruct the metro
line between Ploschad Muzhestva and Lesnaya; put into operation before 2003 all
uncompleted metro stations; organize passenger transport along the inner-city rail circle;
- optimize routing of
public transport to meet passenger demand;
- repair major
thoroughfares; complete work on construction of two semi-circular thoroughfares for cargo
transport; start construction of the ring road around St. Petersburg;
- greatly improve the
quality of housing services as a result of creating competition in the provision of such
services and as a result of control on the part of tenants over the proper performance of
contracts for services for which they will themselves have been paying (including
assessment of quantity and quality of such services);
- employ new resource- and
energy-saving technologies in the public utilities (reducing water and heat losses by
30%);
- introduce a charging
system by which consumers will pay for the amount of water or gas they have actually
consumed;
- introduce state control
over charges and conditions for connection to the water, gas, heat and electricity
services; stimulate competition from alternative sources so as to bring down prices for
energy;
- put an end to the
expensive practice of continually extending city development; make maximum use of reserves
of incompletely developed space within the city limits;
- implement measures for
improvement of citizens' health (improve tap-water quality, reduce air pollution, complete
construction of a sewer collector);
- restrict provision of
rent subsidies and other kinds of social aid strictly to people with low income;
- restructure the social
system; improve the work of law-enforcement organizations and the education and
health-care systems; intensify social work with retired people, the disabled and youth
following the principles of social justice and targeted support.
- In assessment of
expenditure needed in order to implement the Strategic Plan, account was taken both of
total expenses for implementation of immediate priority measures and of costs involved in
preparation for measures and projects planned for the more distant future. Expenditure
predictions take into consideration expected returns from projects, as well as resources
that are likely to come from other sources of finance. Detailed data are given in the
information cards for each measure in the Strategic Plan. Total costs (for the period up
to 2003) are as follows (in new - i.e. post 01.01.98 - rubles):
- 15 billion rubles in
municipal resources (including 8 billion for investments);
- 12 billion rubles from
the federal exchequer, including for implementation of the federal programs
"Housing" and "Preservation and development of the historical center of St.
Petersburg";
- not less than 40 billion
rubles from various sources of private investment (i.e. money invested by business or the
general public);
- 10 billion rubles of
investment from other sources (non-state funds, direct foreign investment, Eurobonds,
loans from the World Bank and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and
other international organizations).
Different types of
project will be implemented using different proportions of public and private funds.
Priority for expenditure of municipal funds will go to socially important infrastructure
projects with a long pay-back period. Private funds will be utilized in commercially
attractive projects. International loans will be spent as top-up finance for various
projects - mainly infrastructure projects. Citizens will mostly be involved as investors
in housing-construction projects.
Whatever the importance
of quantitative evaluations, it is nevertheless the case that greater importance is to be
attributed to correct choice of the main strategic goal for development of the city. The
main objective of the Strategic Plan is social justice, aid for the poor, support for
business, creation of jobs and higher incomes, and increased efficiency in the use of
municipal resources.
In the process of
selecting measures for the Strategic Plan, St. Petersburg's best and keenest minds were
involved: more than 300 leading enterprises and organizations agreed to take part in
implementation of the plan. For almost one year, well-known economists, financiers,
sociologists and engineers from the city's major scientific organizations selected
measures and assessed priorities so as to identify, amongst all the many ways of solving a
particular problem, the solution that would be most effective in the current situation of
limited financial resources.
The Strategic Plan is a
public partnership between the city authorities, business and the general public.
Accordingly, control
over its implementation should be communal too. Openness in the development and
implementation of the plan is the pledge both of its success and of its ability to reflect
the demands of the community that it serves.
Address by the Governor
of St. Petersburg