Oleg Kuvshinnikov reported to the President on the growth of all indicators in the region. Industrial output was up by 2 percent and budget revenues grew by 5 percent. The last commercial loan was paid off on July 1, the budget is balanced and the implementation of major infrastructure projects is underway. One of these is the construction of a second bridge over the Sheksna River in Cherepovets, the centre of metallurgy.
The second project is the development of a major tourism cluster in Vologda Region, the domain of Father Frost. A sports and recreation centre was built in 2018 and the Moroz Arena Ice Palace in 2017. The design of Father Frost’s new palace is nearing completion. It will be three times bigger than the old one since the number of tourists has exceeded 300,000 per year. It is very important to make this project federal rather than regional.
However, the Governor said it will be impossible to do this without the reconstruction of the airport in Veliky Ustyug, which is located 1,000 kilometres from Moscow. In line with the President’s instruction, its runway is being extended from 1,500 metres to 1,800 metres, which will allow it to accommodate medium-haul aircraft and Sukhoi Superjets 100 planes from Moscow, St Petersburg and other large cities. A new runway will open on August 20, 2020. The new terminal complex may operate international flights if the region sees an increase in international tourist flows. The work on extending the Vologda Airport runway from 1,300 metres to 1,800 metres has also got underway.
Oleg Kuvshinnkov also told the President about the implementation of another project: the construction of Vologda’s bypass road, which will link three federal motorways from Vologda to Arkhangelsk, St Petersburg and Moscow. This road will remove all transit vehicles from the centre of Vologda. The work on it will be fully completed on September 1, 2020.
The Governor also asked the President to assign the historical heritage status to Vologda. The city is 872 years old and has unique architecture, including over 200 cultural heritage landmarks, such as the 14th century Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, the 16th century St Sophia Cathedral and the Vologda Kremlin.
Mr Kuvshinninkov also asked the President to support two further projects. One of them is the construction of a small ring road to remove traffic from the city centre and the building of a third bridge over the Vologda River. The second project is the expansion of the A114 federal motorway, which is heavily overloaded with 45,000 vehicles per day.
The Governor reassured the President that all work is being carried out according to plan and will be completed to ensure Vologda Region’s dynamic development.
Vladimir Putin noted that in general the region is doing well and its plans are also fairly realistic. They can and must be carried out.