Annual Address of Tomsk Oblast Governor Viktor Kress
to the Deputies of the Oblast Parliament
at the XLVI Session of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast

Practical steps of Tomsk modernization

Viktor Kress opened his traditional 12th Address at the first Duma session in the new calendar year by summarizing the results of the previous year.

According to the opinion poll carried out in Tomsk, Seversk, and Tomsk District, people felt that the year 2010 was better than 2009 which they called the worst year over the last 7 years. At the same time, almost 70% of the population believe that the crisis is not over yet.

It is obvious that neither Russia nor Tomsk Oblast have overcome the crisis, however the agenda announced by President Medvedev – modernization of Russia – is more than vital for Tomsk Oblast. 2011 Investment Projects

Modernization is first and foremost investments. Investments bring about new jobs, new quality of life, education, culture and health care.

Main investment projects of the current year are:

Start of Altai gas pipeline construction project. Total cost of the project is 500bn rubles; the length of the pipeline is 2,600 km including 850 km in Tomsk Oblast. Hundreds of billions of rubles will be invested in the Oblast.

Construction of an oil refinery in the northern industrial zone. Cost of the project is 60bn rubles. The project will create more than a thousand new jobs.

In 2011 Chinese businessmen will start two wood processing mills which will offer new jobs to people living in Asinovsky District, in the first place. There are already 256 new jobs. Henda Sibir will invest in the project about 1bn rubles in total; in 2010 it invested 330m rubles.

Green Factory startup options will be discussed with B&N Bank management.

Tomsklesdrev’s investment project.

Federal investment in development of Tomsk SEZ: 4.3bn rubles for construction work will be allocated from the federal budget and 1.8bn rubles from the regional budget. In 2011 construction of a new biotechnology building will be started in the SEZ; construction of the infrastructure will be started in the Northern Site and completed in the Southern Site.

A real highlight of the year will be the start of the project by OAO Ruselectronics involving creation of a cluster of LED light sources in cooperation with the Semiconductor Research Institute and Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics. Tomsk State University and Tomsk Polytechnic University will join the project, too. This project will obtain federal funding of 360m rubles having won in the contest organized by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. The next stage is creation of a R&D center and construction of a LED factory. The investments total 5.3bn rubles. Tomsk Light Bulb Factory has started to expand capacities for the manufacture of next generation lighting devices.

In 2011 the MDF board production plant of LPK Partner-Tomsk will start full production. The investments total 7bn rubles.

NPO Virion plans to start up latest technology medicine filling lines in a new manufacturing building which meets international standards.

Innovation company Micran in cooperation with Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics will start implementing a project for the manufacture of microwave devices on the basis of their own gallium arsenide hardware. Funding for the project of 300m rubles will be allocated from the federal budget. The same amount will be invested, please pay attention, to the “new economy” of Tomsk Oblast.

In 2011 we will return to discussions of the two “golden projects” of Tomsk Oblast – construction of a high technology nuclear medicine center and a nuclear power station in Seversk.

One more important project of the Oblast is the reconstruction of Tomsk airport. Novaport has started to invest in expansion of the airport building and construction of a temporary international checkpoint. Another large project here is engineering in 2011 and reconstruction in 2012-2013 of the runway. The investments will total almost 2bn rubles.

In the agricultural sector it is likely that a new farm using a German champignon growing technology is created. There are plans to build latest technology dairy complexes in several districts of Tomsk Oblast. Siberian Agrarian Group is also starting new projects.

The quality of life depends on the environmental situation as well. In Tomsk we have developed technologies to reduce air pollution and impacts of vehicle exhausts, improve drinking water quality, reduce soil contamination (both from oil spills and residential waste).

Housing and Public Utility Services

In 2011 we will develop a strategy for development of Tomsk Oblast construction industry for 2025 – a basic industry regulation.

Public utilities sector priorities in 2011 are the following:

First, quality of the services must be significantly improved. Each municipal utility should maintain a website and publish there accurate information for consumers.

Second, large-scale attraction of investment in housing renovations from all sources is needed. Third, neither the Oblast nor the federation currently has a comprehensive solution for utility infrastructure modernization. The Russian Ministry of Regional Development has estimated the cost of modernizing the Russian utility infrastructure – it exceeds 6 trillion rubles. Tomsk Oblast needs about 3-4bn rubles out of this amount.

I suggest that we invite new players to the Russian market such as Veolia and Siemens. We need massive support for investment projects dedicated to implementation of last generation independent and local utility sources.

2011 Innovation Projects

This year key projects for innovative development in Tomsk Oblast will be the following:

Tomsk’2020 Project. The project goal: to turn Tomsk into the world center for education, research and development. This can be accomplished by developing innovative and social infrastructure of the city.

Consortium of Tomsk Universities is the core domain of the INO Tomsk’2020 Project.

The project for construction of a university campus seems realistic. Preliminary negotiations have already been held with strong foreign companies.

Almost 400m rubles from the regional and federal budgets will be allocated to support small business this year.

I would like to detail on the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia. The Ministry for Economic Development will tender to select Russian innovative regions. Non-formal tender has been held so far by the Academy of National Economy among eight member regions of the Association. Tomsk is still far ahead. Yet we must manage other few joint innovation projects with regions such as Tatarstan, Perm and Kaluga. We have already had inter-cooperative projects with Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk, one per piece.

Energy Efficiency. Tomsk Oblast has secured the fourth position based on preliminary data of the Russian Energy Agency of the RF Ministry of Energy and year-end results in a number of energy efficiency parameters.

Management System Modernization

2011 is scheduled to restructure management of the region and the remuneration system of public employees. The restructuring mainly targets at transition to the project management method (principal project of INO Tomsk’2020) and result driven labor remuneration.

Tomsk Agglomeration. In 2011 a legal framework shall be created for Tomsk agglomeration. Tomsk agglomeration shall become a lynchpin for intelligence and finance resources. It shall offer additional jobs, create new investment projects, new infrastructure, and as a result it shall work to improve the quality of life of the region citizens.

E-Government. The forthcoming year will be a year of massive implementation of IT into the public service system, into public sector. The laws stipulate that from July 1 the citizens will be provided with one-window services, which is impossible without ultimate IT support for the services provided. In a year we shall introduce a universal electronic record of a Tomsk citizen, where their major personal data will be stored.

Human Factor of Modernization: Education, Health Care and Culture

Education

In 2011 Tomsk vocational education system shall undergo significant changes:

Need to proceed with establishing multi-disciplinary and multi-level institutes, instead of single-disciplinary ones.

Need to attract employers’ funds to teach college and vocational school specialists.

Need to combine colleges and vocational schools with universities into one chain – what is currently called the development of application-oriented bachelor program.

Need to implement innovations in universities such as public-private partnership, and contracts with public corporations and businesses shall also advance into primary and secondary vocational education.

School

School education modernization efforts in 2011:

Promulgation of the best teaching practices based on the network school interaction.

Individual program of development for each school. This is a demand by the Russian President.

Support for the best teachers and schools of the Oblast.

Implementation of the idea to create excellence centers with the best pre-school and school education in Tomsk.

Quality improvement of the community role in school development: parents, governing boards, sponsors, school boards.

Creation of support centers for gifted children and distance learning schools at National Research Universities.

Establishment of the Presidential Cadet Corps.

Opening of the first Oblast physics and mathematics school for gifted children in Siberia.

Health Care. Program of health care modernization is estimated to cost 6.716bn rubles, including 3.036bn rubles from the Oblast budget, 2.9bn rubles from Tomsk Territorial Compulsory Health Insurance Fund, the rest from the federal budget. The money will be spent in three directions. First is procurement – repairs of clinics and hospitals, purchasing of the new latest technology equipment. Second is IT support – development of electronic reception. Third is improvement of quality of diagnostics and treatment in major areas, such as heart diseases, oncology, maternity and child welfare.

Social Innovations.In 2011 we plan to implement public-private partnership principles in foster care and create the first private nursing home for the elderly. Our Childhood Department has developed interesting new approaches which were acknowledged at the federal level, namely unique family preservation techniques.

There are agreements with private investors that in 2011 they will take part in construction of modern sports complexes in Tomsk by investing hundreds of millions of rubles. We will also build a number of large sports facilities whose construction will be financed from the budget.

Culture.In 2011 we plan to develop a program for modernization of Tomsk culture.

Tomsk Oblast does not have any contemporary art venues may be because it lacks federal cultural institutions. I favor an interesting suggestion that a restoration and training center for revival of wooden architecture and wooden house-building is created in Tomsk.

Conclusion

2011 is a year of elections both to the State Duma of the Russian Federation and the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast. Practical objectives of the election campaign are to develop a Tomsk modernization program and start implementing it. In 2011 we must take a number of explicit and noticeable steps towards innovations, whose result could be seen by all Tomsk citizens. Tomsk Oblast must have schools with progressive ideas ready to share their teaching experience with people coming from all over Russia. Tomsk SEZ must attract foreign investors. School graduates who passed the Uniform State Exam and scored maximum 100 points should enter Tomsk universities and not those of Moscow. Complex surgeries, at least in some disciplines, must be available in our city. It must be fashionable, safe, comfortable, interesting and profitable to live in Tomsk. Tomsk has good chances to become a city like this. Let us take these chances.

Thank you for attention!

The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast