The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast
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Annual report of the Governor of Tomsk Oblast on the performance of the Administration of Tomsk Oblast and other executive government bodies of Tomsk Oblast in 2013
The report on the performance of the regional executive government in 2013 was addressed to the deputies of the Tomsk Oblast Duma and to all citizens of Tomsk Oblast.
Social development
The quality of life is best determined by the quality of healthcare, education, labor market, and care about children, the elderly and the disabled.
An important stability factor of any region is its demography. For the seventh year in a row Tomsk Oblast has had sustainable natural population growth. Life expectancy is also increasing. In 2013, the population of the region grew by 6,000 people. mainly due to an increase in the birth rate and a decrease in the death rate. Currently, the population of Tomsk Oblast is 1,070,100 people.
In 2013, federal funding of the project to modernize regional general education systems came to an end. More than 353 million rubles was received during the year, 53 million more was allocated from the regional budget on co-financing terms. The money was used to purchase computers and equipment for laboratories, school classes, sports facilities and medical stations. 45 million rubles was allocated for the modernization of school cafeterias.
Two new schools were opened, 28 schools in 13 municipalities underwent major renovations. Four schools in Tomsk and Seversk were made barrier-free. For the first time in the history of the Oblast, 80 children with complex disabilities were taken to schools in 14 municipal districts.
Dramatic changes in the system of professional education. By 2017, we should be able to have doubled salaries to instructors and supervisors as a result of the modernization of the entire system. As part of the effort, inefficient technical and vocational schools get reorganized, and new multilevel educational institutions are created which will train factory workers and mid-level professionals. By the way, today one in three vocational schools in the region have 100% worn out equipment. This neglect of professional education is no longer acceptable.
To change the situation we cooperate with business to create in our most advanced schools excellence centers with state of the art equipment and best instructors. In 2013, in cooperation with Transneft a multifunctional oil transport training center was opened at the Tomsk College of Industry and Arts. We plan to create five more such centers before 2016. They will train professionals in areas such as construction, public utilities, agriculture, healthcare, water transport and shipping industry. We have launched a large-scale project in cooperation with Gazprom, the Tomsk Polytechnic University, and the Tomsk Information Technology College. It will be a regional educational center for the gas industry and the fuel and energy sector of Siberia and Far East.
In 2013, we completed a three year regional program for the modernization of healthcare worth 6.7 billion rubles
Tomsk Oblast enrolled in the federal cancer program as part of the national project Education, with the scope of funding of around 0.5 billion rubles. Under the program new medical equipment was bought, including heavy beam therapy units, and construction of a radiology canyon for the Oblast cancer detection center started, with commissioning scheduled for this autumn. Also, plans to build a surgery department for the Oblast cancer detection center were approved.
Pursuant to Presidential decrees issued in May salaries of medical workers were raised.
The Oblast budget allocated 7.8 billion rubles for social security initiatives. Even though the budget was tight, we kept all benefits, including the regional maternity capital.
Last year we made a giant leap in culture. We sponsored concerts by an outstanding pianist Denis Matsuev and the Mariinsky Theater orchestra conducted by maestro Valery Gergiev, a movie festival Golden Vityaz, and an international jazz festival.
Finally, cultural life is blossoming not only in the center of the region but also in the municipalities. That was our key challenge. First, financial support to districts for the development of culture increased three times. Second, “cultural landing parties” were resumed. Third, federal funding of cultural events in Tomsk Oblast was increased 2.5 times.
Our agreements with the Mariinsky Theater and the Presidential Library will give another boost to the development of culture.
Environment and crime rate are important factors determining the well-being of people and business, and impacting the investment attractiveness of the region.
I would like to remind you that it was under an initiative by the Tomsk public environmental organization Strizh that the Russian President declared 2013 Year of Environment. 250,000 people – a quarter of the region’s population – took part in various environmental initiatives at all levels – from municipal to international. We have vigorously resumed cleaning and stocking with fish our water bodies and launched the program Tomsk – the Capital of Cedar.
Tomsk Oblast became the leader in the Siberian Federal District for the reduction in registered crime rates. Crime rate went down by 10 per cent. In 2013, it was the lowest over the past 23 years! We started to successfully solve high profile crimes. For the crime situation, we are almost back to the safe times of 1990. This is the result of concerted efforts of the government and law enforcement agencies.
Development of economy
At the end of 2013, the industrial output index of Tomsk Oblast was 95.4 per cent vs national average of 100.3 per cent. We decreased by almost 4 per cent extraction of minerals vs a national average growth of 1.2 per cent. Also, the output of processing facilities in Tomsk Oblast went down by almost 4 per cent vs a growth – however insignificant – on the national average scale. National average production and distribution of electric energy, gas and water went down by 1.8 per cent. In Tomsk Oblast the reduction was almost 17 per cent! We also did not manage to achieve the national average rate for investments in fixed assets.
There are objective reasons for such results – uncertainty at the domestic and foreign markets, outflow of foreign capital from Russia, hesitancy among Russian investors. One of the key drivers of the decrease in the industrial output of the region is a slowdown of the investment activity in the oil and gas sector. The regional economy is still too much dependent on oil and gas production. A small reduction in production by 1-2 per cent provides a negative multi-fold effect in related industries.
That is why one of our key challenges is to diversify the economy, put it on an innovation footing, keep production of oil and gas from falling and maintain investments in the industry. We have already made a number of steps towards securing growth of industrial production, primarily in the oil and gas sector.
First, we were the first Russian region to have entered into an agreement with the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources to create in the region an experimental facility to study advanced methods and technologies for the production of tight oil. 70 per cent of our oil reserves stay intact because we do not possess the right production technology. Government, business and academia are all involved in the search for new technologies, and we were the first to combine those efforts.
Second, we permitted since the beginning of 2014 to apply tax benefits to investment projects in the production of hydrocarbons. It was done, first of all, to stimulate investments by subsoil users and bolster the development of tight oil reserves.
Third, while decreasing the dependence of the region’s taxable capacity on the oil and gas sector, we leveraged our administrative resource in 2013 and became actively engaged in helping our mechanical engineering companies to enter domestic fuel and energy markets.
We started implementing the road map aimed at promoting Gazprom’s utilization of products by Tomsk Oblast industrial manufacturers. In 2013, our companies tripled sales to gas producers and for the first time in history exceeded 1 billion rubles in sales. Tomsk Electromechanical Plant, Sibkabel, Tomsk Electronic Company, Elcom+, and SIAM have the strongest positions.
Value added wood processing showed a growth of more than 20 per cent. Exports here exceeded 100 million US dollars, which is almost 13 per cent above the 2012 rate.
Our research and educational complex demonstrated a good growth in 2013. Funding of Tomsk universities and research institutes in 2013 grew by 9 per cent and exceeded 25 billion rubles. Funding for research activity totaled 16 billion rubles. Private business is still providing more than 50 per cent of investments in science.
72 per cent of our agricultural enterprises made profit in 2013. Food production in the region grew by almost 10 per cent – the highest growth rate in the Siberian Federal District.
More than 531,000 square meters of housing was commissioned in 2013. It is 8.5 per cent more than in 2012. The average for the Siberian Federal District is 5 per cent. The construction industry of Tomsk Oblast surged to a record high over the past 22 years. It had not achieved such high results even before the financial crisis of 2008!
One important driver of such growth is an increase in construction materials production rates. Last year Tomsk Housing Construction Company put into operation a new precast reinforced concrete facility worth around one billion rubles. However, what secured our success in the first place was implementation of a comprehensive development approach in housing construction, synchronization of efforts by government, construction companies and public utilities, and provision of necessary infrastructure facilities for new construction sites.
Presidential May decrees
Recent accomplishments of the region in housing construction owe a lot to the so called ‘Presidential May decrees’, especially to the unfit housing relocation program. In 2013, we spent 1.4 billion rubles for relocation of people from unfit housing in emergency condition to modern and comfortable apartments. 870 households – 2,500 individuals – moved to new homes.
One of our priority tasks in 2013 was to raise salaries of people working in government-funded organizations in accordance with the May decrees. We delivered on all our commitments. The average monthly salary for medical workers grew 1.5 times over the year and exceeded 41,000 rubles. School teachers are now earning 1.3 times more than in the past – more than 30,000 rubles per month on average. Nursery school teachers’ salaries grew 1.6 times and now the average totals almost 25,000 rubles. Salaries of social workers grew 1.4 times and now the average totals around 14,500 rubles per month. Cultural workers’ salaries went up 1.6 times up to 18,400 rubles per month. Remember, it is an average monthly salary and it is much higher now than several years ago.
It goes without saying that the commitments taken up by the regional government had an impact on the regional budget. In 2013, our revenues totaled 42.8 billion rubles vs expenditures of 48.8 billion.
In order to fulfill all our obligations and cover the deficit we had to increase our national debt to 14.6 billion rubles. The debt burden grew from 32 to 45 per cent. We had agreed earlier that we would never get above 50 per cent. I can assure, there are no preconditions for that today.
Being one of the major contributors to the federal budget, we naturally count on support from the federal center. Last year we engaged in a dialogue with the President, the Government and the Ministry of Finance and achieved an essential agreement on a significant increase in federal budget equalization transfer amounts. We were able to persuade the federal authorities that over the past years the taxable capacity of Tomsk Oblast was overrated. The President and the Ministry of Finance understood our concerns and approved an almost 12 times increase in equalization transfers – from initially budgeted 256 million rubles to 3 billion rubles! I believe, it is our common big victory.
A year ago speaking from this tribune, the Governor talked about launching nine priority regional projects, so called ‘beacons’.
All these projects will last more than one year. They concentrate efforts by the government, business and society and create new opportunities for investors.
First beacon – Development Institutions – is a tool to stimulate innovation processes, infrastructure and business environment.
An open joint stock company Tomsk Oblast Development Corporation was created. This institution will play a key role in attracting capital for the construction of infrastructure and in providing effective management of newly created facilities. The Corporation coordinates industry parks and investment sites creation efforts.
We identified two sites for the construction of industry parks, one for metal working, machine building, chemical and construction facilities, the other one for food producers.
In 2013, we won in the contest organized by the Ministry of Economic Development and obtained a 188 million rubles subsidy for setting up an industry park.
We have already signed agreements with potential residents. The food industry site is already occupied 100 per cent. The heavy industry site is still 50 per cent vacant. Residents can already start design and engineering work to be able to start construction the next year.
Another project of the Corporation is construction of a positron emission tomography center in Tomsk. In April 2014, the Corporation entered into an agreement with PET Technology as a full party.
Second beacon – Tomsk Universities – Global Status
Last July our national research universities won in the contest organized by the Ministry of Education and Science and were listed among 15 leading universities of Russia. Tomsk was the only city beyond the Urals to have two universities featured on that prestigious list. That became possible through a huge combined effort of the universities and the government.
It is not only a matter of status. It is an opportunity for the Tomsk State and Polytechnic universities to get in the top 100 best world universities and for Tomsk to become a renown international research and educational center.
Third beacon – Roads and Transport System
Key achievements in this area were opening of an international airport in Tomsk, expansion of its route network, and construction of a bridge over the River Vakh.
Fourth beacon – Tomsk Gas for Tomsk People
Under the agreement with Gazprom we launched efforts to supply gas to households in the capital of the region and to rural areas in Tomsky District.
Gazprom financed engineering of four gas lines between rural areas in the regional center and will continue to build another four lines. It will also continue enginnering work.
Fifth beacon – Nuclear Breakthrough
Rosatom started concentrating uranium hexafluoride production facilities at the Siberian Chemical Combine. For our facility, it means an incremental annual turnover of 0.5 billion rubles. A new conversion facility worth around 12 billion rubles will be built at the site of the combine.
Work on the project to build BREST-300, a pilot nuclear energy generation facility worth around 65 billion rubles, is in progress.
Both projects will be completed by 2020. They are currently at the stage of obtaining a license for placing the facility on a chosen ground. This year Rosatom has invested in these two projects more than 2 billion rubles.
Sixth beacon – Nursery School for Every Kid
I would like to remind you that in accordance with one of the May decrees, within the next 18 months we should place every child over 3 years old in a nursery school.
As part of the public-private partnership agreement with Gazprombank and Tomsk Housing Construction Company, 15 nursery school projects were launched in 9 municipalities at once.
Investments in the 15 projects total 2.6 billion rubles.
Seventh beacon – Tomsk Embankments
This is a 46 billion rubles project which will be completed before 2020. In 2013, we developed an action plan, a front end document explaining the choice of the site, technical specifications for engineering survey work, and designed the dam.
Last year I presented the Tomsk Embankments project to President Vladimir Putin, this April – to Prime Minister Medvedev. Mr. Medvedev backed our initiative and approved including the dam on the River Tom in the scope of the federal target program Development of Water Industry in the Russian Federation.
The project has already received private investments – Gazprom allocated 120 million rubles.
Eighth beacon – Academpark
In 2013, we spent a lot of time working on the concept of Academpark because we had never had any similar sports and resort facilities in Tomsk before. Preliminary cost estimations are 0.5 billion rubles. We developed a scope for the development of town planning documents and allocated to the city budget a 20 million rubles subsidy for the effort. Now it is up to the Tomsk City Hall.
Ninth beacon – Economy of Nature
For the successful implementation of this project we included in the organization of the Oblast Administration a territorial cluster for the management of renewable resources consisting of the Forest Management Department, the Hunting Agency, and the Fisheries Committee.
At the end of 2013, financing for the national program Development of the fishing industry in Tomsk Oblast for 2014-2020 totaled 129 million rubles – 1.7 times more than in 2012. We provided funding for 10 investment projects, mainly in rural areas. Per one ruble allocated from the budget we attracted 17 rubles in private capital.
The results of 2013 confirmed that the economy of nature is an effective tool to secure social and economic stability of the region. Today, this industry provides permanent jobs for more than 8,000 people and seasonal jobs for up to 70,000 people. Incremental income of the population totaled 1.2 billion rubles, tax contributions to the Oblast budget – almost 0.6 billion.
Investment policy
Effective and streamlined implementation of our beacon projects requires billions of rubles in capital investments by the federal center, development institutions, and private business.
Resolving challenges of our investment policy, we are engaged in a continuous dialogue with business. We approved a ‘one-stop shop’ procedure for our investment projects and established a procedure for the creation of project teams for targeted assistance to projects.
For investors, we set up a direct communication channel with the executive government of the region – the online investment portal of Tomsk Oblast. There is an up-to-date interactive map of investment and infrastructure facilities available to any investor looking for investment opportunities in the region.
In 2013, the National Rating Agency rated Tomsk Oblast as ‘highly attractive for investors’. The Oblast took the 8th place among all Russian regions in the first investment climate rating compiled by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. By the end of 2014, a draft investment strategy of Tomsk Oblast will be presented for review to the region’s deputies and businessmen.
First project of 2014 is to update the INOTomsk 2020 concept.
The INOTomsk 2020 project has a goal to establish good communication between the government, business and academia and mobilize federal funds to finance our ‘beacons’. Our investment priorities are to build a cross-university student campus; help our State and Polytechnic universities get into top 100 best world universities; ensure effective cooperation between universities and research institutes; create excellence training centers; create advanced production facilities in the oil and gas cluster, nuclear cluster, ‘Pharmaceuticals, Medical Equipment and IT’ cluster; build ‘Tomsk Embankments’; create a model of comprehensive management of renewable resources; improve urban infrastructure.
Second project – start modernizing Tomskneftekhim production facilities.
SIBUR launched a large scale project to modernize polymer production at Tomskneftekhim. The total amount of investments is estimated at 8 billion rubles with 8.6 billion rubles tax contributions to the consolidated regional budget in 2014-2020, and the budget effect of 1.5 billion.
Third project – commissioning of the bridge over the River Vakh.
The total cost of the project is around 9 billion rubles. Last year we invested in the first stage of the project around 115 million rubles. Almost the same amount was allocated for the project in 2012. The second stage will be funded through public-private partnership. Payback to the investor will be provided from the budgets of Tomsk Oblast and Yugra within eight years after the commissioning of the facility.
Fourth project – start-up of a radio frequency electronic equipment production facility by Micran.
Total investments in the project are estimated at 760 million rubles. The new facility will provide 400 high-tech jobs with salaries above the industry-average levels.
The plant will produce telecommunication and radiolocation equipment, automation and control devices and world class microwave equipment. That will boost the value added industrial output of the region.
Finally, the fifth project – true start of an agglomeration of Tomsk, Seversk, and Tomsk District.
I would like to emphasize that this will not be a merger. Rather, it is about a comprehensive and coordinated development of municipalities, effective utilization of land, infrastructure, and adjacent territories, construction of modern housing and business structures, implementation of common practices and rules in working with investors.
