I. Metshin: “Together we will make our Kazan beautiful”

The speech by the Mayor of Kazan at the reporting XXXII session of the Kazan City Duma:

Dear Mr. President! Dear deputies and invited, representatives of the media! Dear citizens!

Today we are to sum up the results of the 2018 year, discuss our city problems, outline ways to solve them and set tasks for the coming year.

The reporting year was filled with events and victories. Of course, the most important of them are the election of the President of Russia and the World Cup.

Even with the experience of the Universiade and the FINA Championships, we understood that organizing a meeting and accommodating guests, their logistics and cultural life, ensuring safety and food at a decent level is a much bigger task!

In difficult foreign policy conditions, it was important to show the whole world that our country, our republic, and our Kazan are tolerant, hospitable, and open to the whole world. That we can receive and escort guests, take care of them. That we can be friends with everyone!

Let me remind you that Gianni Infantino, the FIFA President, , came to our City Hall at the Business Monday on his own initiative to personally thank our team for the excellent organization of the competitions and hospitality. It is worth a lot!

The fact that Kazan is recognized by the international community as one of the best places in the history of the Championship is huge merit of the country's leadership, the President, and Government of our republic and all our residents. All those who participated in the construction and repair of roads and facilities, who worked in the hospitality industry, who provided transportation and security of guests. All Kazan citizens, who by their kind-heartedness and friendliness fascinated the guests and participants of the competition.

The World Cup ended, leaving everyone many unforgettable impressions. Now, we have to keep our work.

Let me briefly summarize the work and development of the urban economy and industry.

Economy

From the beginning of the year, a stable socio-economic situation was observed in Kazan.

Production volumes, housing construction, and paid services to the population have grown.

The industrial production index in Kazan was 104.8%, and in the republic and in Russia – 102% and 102.9%, respectively.

Large and medium-sized enterprises of the city have shipped goods of their own production, completed work, and provided services worth almost 315 billion rubles, which is 8% higher than last year.

The Kazan Helicopter Plant has concluded contracts for the production of 20 “Ansat” for the Association of Disaster Medicine of the People’s Republic of China.

105 “Ansat” were contracted for the National Air Ambulance Service.

The first sample of the Mi-38T transport assault helicopter, made to the order of the Ministry of Defense of the RF, was lifted into the air.

The Kazan Aviation Plant named after Gorbunov has put a modernized supersonic Tu-160M bomber of new construction.

The GC “TAIF” at the “Orgsintez” has launched a new plant for the production of carbon black concentrate with a capacity of up to 20 thousand tons per year.

In August 2018, “Tatenergo” delivered a new power unit, as envisaged by an order of the Russian Government, 4 months ahead of schedule.

The retail turnover for the year amounted to 532.4 billion rubles. The growth was 7.3%.

The turnover in the catering industry increased by 6.8%.

The volume of paid services grew by 2.2%.

The volume of investments for the year amounted to about 200 billion rubles. This is about the same as last year.

In August last year, Kazan along with New York, Sydney, and Milan entered the top 15 finalists of the Guangzhou Prize.

In July 2018, the finals of the prestigious world award Li Kuan Yew were held in Singapore. The capital of Tatarstan was the first among Russian cities, chosen for special mention (Specialmention) along with Tokyo and Hamburg.

Budget

With the approved budget for 21.6 billion rubles, the execution amounted to 27.1 billion rubles. Additional revenues to the budget were about 5.5 billion rubles.

The increase in own revenues amounted to more than 2 billion rubles.

Thanks to the assistance of the republic and specifically to you, Mr. President, additional funds in the total amount of 3 billion 271 million rubles were received by the city budget during the year.

Our budget traditionally remains socially oriented. 71% of the funds are directed to the development of the social sphere.

Thanks to the initiative of the Kazan City Duma deputies, 481 million rubles were allocated for social support of citizens.

Property tax exemptions have been established for families with disabled children; there are more than 4.5 thousand of them.

Private kindergartens received the in support the form of applying a reduced land tax rate.

The obligations of the May decrees of the President of Russia to achieve the established salary level of certain categories of education and culture workers have been fully implemented.

Labor market and employment

The situation on the labor market in 2018 remained stable.

The number of registered unemployed is 14% lower than the same period last year. Since the beginning of the year, its level has decreased from 0.63 to 0.51%.

More than 65% of vacancies are workers specialties.

Construction and factory workers are in stable demand.

A huge role in their popularization is played by the WorldSkills-2019, which we will host in Kazan in August.

The national team of the RT at the World Championship consisted of 47 participants, 30 of them are from Kazan.

Small business support

A significant place in the structure of the urban economy is occupied by small and medium businesses.

Kazan has almost 82 thousand of small and medium-sized businesses.

Almost 175 thousand people employed in this segment. The turnover increased by 24.5% to the level of the previous year and amounted to 433.6 billion rubles.

The amount of tax revenues to the city budget was more than 4.8 billion rubles, which is 38% of the total tax revenues.

The Small and Medium Enterprise Support Program for 2017-2019 is being implemented to help small businesses.

In 2018, concessional lending program operators issued 21 loans totaling 137 million rubles.

Over the period of the Program implementing, concessional loans were issued to 472 Kazan entrepreneurs for a total amount of 1.8 billion rubles.

In the reporting year, we continued to work on the main document for the development of the capital: the new Master Plan.

Kazan was the first city in Russia to face the need to develop a Master Plan under the new rules, which came into force in August 2018.

In accordance with the law requirements, the draft Master Plan was submitted for public hearings.

We hoped that the citizens would take part in the discussion, that their offers would help us to finish the project taking into account the interests of Kazan people.

However, we did not expect that the hearing would cause such a strong interest! Over 4 thousand Kazan citizens took part in the discussions!

There were emotional discusses. Each meeting lasted for 5-7 hours!

By the end of the hearing, we received 3.5 thousand written offers. They were all taken into work. For example, in order to minimize the demolition of residential buildings, decisions were made to change the projected passage through Kazan villages.

I want to thank our citizens for such active participation in the discussion of the main strategic city document, for practical advice, and fair criticism!

Solving problems of deceived shareholders. Emergency housing resettlement

The most difficult task is to solve the housing problems of deceived shareholders and residents of emergency houses in Kazan. It is being systematically implemented thanks to the support of the leadership of the republic.

Today, there are 14 problem houses of shared construction in Kazan. Developers are “Fon” and “Firma Svei”

4 houses for 974 apartments were delivered in 2018.

This year, it is planned to deliver 4 more houses to 733 apartments.

The implementation of the targeted program for the resettlement of citizens from the emergency housing of 2013-2017 was completed in 2018.

89 emergency houses in Kazan were included in the program.

Because of the program, almost 5000 citizens were resettled from emergency housing.

In 2019, we expect the adoption of a new program until 2024. This will allow relocating 51 more emergency houses with 557 families.

Road facilities

The state of the road network is one of the main indicators of the comfort of each big city.

5-6 years ago, the quality of our roads caused criticism, traffic jams were a serious problem.

However, thanks to the support of Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of our Republic, the picture has changed significantly.

Today, 81% of roads in Kazan are in standard condition, whereas this figure was two times less before the Universiade.

According to sociological polls of the Government of Russia, Kazan is in second place in the road rating.

Over the past two years, a record amount of 12.3 billion rubles has been allocated for road works in Kazan, including more than 6 billion rubles in 2018.

122 urban and 60 settlement streets, 3 access roads to 14 gardeners' partnership were repaired.

The total repair area was more than 2.5 million square meters.

Constructed and repaired roads should be cleaned in a timely and high-quality fashion. The Kazan citizens demand this from us in their daily references.

The cleaned area of the city’s roads by the end of the year was 21 million square meters, an increase of about 700 thousand square meters.

In 2018, we continued to work on updating the fleet of cleaning machinery and purchased 26 units. From 2011 to 2018, 260 units have been purchased, which is almost half of the existing fleet.

When choosing technology, we focus on small-sized multifunctional machines of year-round use.

A 25% increase in the standard for maintenance will have a positive effect on the quality of cleaning. It has not been revised for more than 6 years, which will increase the number of workers cleaning the sidewalks. Citizens often complain that the roads are cleaned, unlike the sidewalks.

Public transport

It is very important to ensure the comfort of residents in transport.

350 new low-floor, comfortable buses with an engine of the Euro-5 environmental standard were acquired for the World Cup. 104 buses are running on gas-engine fuel.

Vladimir Putin, the President of our country, has set the task of developing gas-engine transport in his Address.

With the support of Rustam Minnikhanov, 52 trams and 85 trolleybuses were purchased for the last 3 years, including 20 trams in 2018.

Now Kazan has the highest percentage of rolling stock renewal compared with other cities of Russia.

More than 12 years ago, we were the first in Russia to develop and implement a new transport scheme.

I remember well that we had only a few allies and assistants. There was a lack of understanding, and moreover, clear opposition.

But with the support of Mintimer Shaimiev and Rustam Minnikhanov, a set of fair, competitive and, most importantly, established rules for the organization of transport communication was established in all court disputes.

Now “Gazels” and “Paziks” disappeared from Kazan’s streets. But they still serve the population in many cities.

Kazan is the only city in the Volga Federal District with a network that connects all 4 types of transport, without separation into social and commercial routes

The entire rolling stock work in a single schedule, at single regulated tariffs, benefit recipients have the opportunity to use any route and all modes of transport.

Housing and communal services

I will briefly dwell on one of the most important branches of the urban economy. Problems of housing and communal services for residents were and still are the most relevant.

The housing fund of Kazan is 32.2 million square meters, 55232 houses. 26.3 million square meters are the area of apartment buildings (almost 5600 houses).

The overhaul of 280 houses worth over 1.8 billion rubles was completed in 2018, which is almost half a billion rubles more, or 41 houses more than in 2017.

The number of comprehensively renovated houses is growing annually. In the reporting year, it grew by 39 houses more than in 2017.

We are traditionally among the leaders in the overhaul of housing among the cities of the Volga Federal District.

Ufa, for example, came close to us in terms of the number of houses. Nevertheless, they still have been solving local problems, which we abandoned in favor of complex repairs several years ago.

The average amount of investments in the repair of one house in Kazan is almost 1.5 times higher than in Ufa (6.6 million rubles against 4.7).

By 2019, 234 more houses were included in the overhaul program.

2018 marked the beginning of a large-scale reconstruction of the city’s water supply systems.

With the support of our President, a project has been launched to heat the sludge. At the end of the year, a sludge drying plant will be delivered.

This will stop the daily removal of 250 tons of waste to the bank of the Volga.

The next stage is the re-cultivation of sludge fields and the return of more than 100 hectares of land.

The most important project is the construction of the SPS “Zarechnaya”. Its launch will ensure uninterrupted drainage of the northern part of the city and delivering12 million square meters of housing in a 20-year term.

As for the waste management system, the transition to the new rules was launched in the reporting year.

A second map of the MSW landfill on Khimicheskaya Street was constructed, which will provide the possibility of waste disposal, but only for the next 5 years.

The technological stage of reclamation of the Samosyrovskaya landfill has been completed. Today it is planned to complete the reclamation with the planting of greenery and the installation of sewage treatment plants.

The most important program of separate waste collection has been launched in Kazan. In two areas of the city, more than 400 containers for separate collection were established as an experiment.

The introduction of separate collection requires the solution of at least three tasks:

1. Educating of the citizens.

2. Creation of conditions for separate collection and sorting of waste and infrastructure for their processing.

1700 plastic collection containers have been installed in Kazan.

50 plots of land have been allocated for the installation of pavilions for the collection of recycled materials, and 41 pavilions have already been installed.

3. Development of the system of state support for small businesses engaged in waste recycling.

Speaking to the residents of the country on February 20, the President of Russia set the task of eliminating landfills and increasing the share of recycling from 8% to 60%.

Dear Mr. President, we are ready to organize a pilot project in Kazan to support representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in waste recycling.

Improvement and maintenance of local territories

An important component of the comfort of the urban environment is the state of yards and yard driveways.

In the reporting year, 430 yards were landscaped with a total area of 457 thousand square meters.

In general, 44% of the total number of yards was repaired from 2011 to 2018.

In addition, recreation areas for the elderly, children's play complexes, and sports grounds have been installed in the yards.

Additional 5 thousand parking lots have been created. Since 2011, the number of parking spaces has increased by 29 thousand.

Concluding the topic of housing and communal services, I would like to note that modern IT technologies are widely used to get feedback from the citizens. Such tools as “People's Control” and “Open Kazan” are very effective.

The project “Open Kazan” recently became the winner of an all-Russian competition at an investment forum in Sochi.

Improvement and gardening

Large-scale records in the Program for the Reconstruction of Public Spaces, initiated and supported by Rustam Minnikhanov, have marked the reporting year for Kazan.

A record amount was allocated for the improvement of parks and public gardens: 1 billion 258 million rubles.

8 objects were reconstructed:

- Gorkinsko-Ometievsky forest;

- Parks “Krylya Sovetov” and “Komsomolets”;

- Boulevards on the streets Dekabristov, Fucik, and Absalyamov;

- The territory of the Family Center “Kazan”;

- An embankment of Nizhny Kaban Lake.

Citizens’ favorite holiday spot the Lebyazhie Lake has been revived thanks to the GC “TAIF”.

On behalf of the residents of the city, I would like to thank our concern investors for this. They also plan to give citizens a new children park near the NCC.

This year another 1.5 billion rubles will be allocated for 9 objects.

Events of parks and squares

In total, there are 144 parks and squares with a total area of 379 hectares in Kazan. In addition to reconstruction, they need to be filled with meaning, so that they become a place of attraction for people.

Therefore, it was decided to create the Directorate of Parks and Squares of Kazan as a single operator for the cultural content of these urban spaces.

During the first year of work of the Directorate, more than 1350 events were held for different ages and preferences of citizens: educational, cultural, children's, sports, programs for older people. More than 370 thousand people visited them.

Today we can safely say that parks and squares have become a favorite place for leisure activities of citizens and guests of the capital.

Today, the program of renovation of urban cultural centers, launched with the support of our President, is already giving results.

Thus, the House of Culture “Lenin” has been updated, which was a long-awaited project for residents not only of the Aviastroitelny district, but also of all of Kazan, as well as the park “Krylya Sovetov”, the Cultural Center “Moskovsky”, and the Uritsky Park.

Next in line are the HoC Said-Galiev in Derbyshki, the CC “Chulpan” in the Privolzhsky district, and the HoC “Zheleznodorozhnikov” in Yudino.

Public safety

One of the most important components of the comfort of living in a city is public safety.

All guests of the World Cup have mentioned the highest level of security and anti-terrorism protection.

On behalf of all the residents of the city, let me thank the whole Kazan police garrison, employees of the assigned forces, personally the Minister of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan, the head of the FSB Directorate of the RT for their hard and dedicated work!

We are carrying out great constructive work on the observance of legality together with the Republic Prosecutor’s Office and the Kazan Prosecutor’s Office.

I will report on work the municipality is doing in this direction.

The overhaul of the Aviastroitelny and Savinovo police stations was completed in 2018.

Thanks to the decision of the President of the Republic, the Yudino police station moved to the new premises in Salavat Kupere, and repairs began on two buildings of the city police stations.

The Moskovsky police station moved at the new address; they were previously located in three different buildings.

Municipal structures established at the initiative of our President play a significant role in ensuring security.

The total number of municipal employees involved in the protection of order is 463 people, like a whole army battalion.

Our experts are involved in the composition of patrol crews and posts, traffic patrols, assist the district police officer. 346 crimes were solved, almost 7.5 thousand (7484) administrative offenses were prevented with their direct participation.

Speaking of security, I need to mention the video surveillance system. Since 2016, 7787 cameras have been installed in 2262 apartment buildings in Kazan.

With their help, 1251 crimes have already been solved today, which is more than 15% of the total number of registered. 682 administrative offenses have been prevented.

I want to thank “Tattelecom” and personally Lutfulla Shafigullin, its general director, State Councilor, for active participation in the implementation of this project. I hope that this year, we will complete the laying of cable networks to the remaining houses, which will provide 100% coverage of the multi-apartment residential territory.

Inbound tourism

Well-equipped urban spaces, security and hospitality, a long history and rich cultural life attract visitors from all over the world.

On November 9, Kazan met the anniversary guest Daria Chepur, the 3-millionth tourist from Moscow.

In total, 3 million 200 thousand people visited Kazan in 2018, which is 2 times more than in 2013, the year of the Universiade.

Kazan is the fifth city in Russia, receiving more than 3 million people a year.

The length of stay of tourists is increasing.

The number of returning tourists is increasing as well. By the end of 2018, 35% of tourists have already been to Kazan previously.

Every day, we are working on the development of tourism infrastructure: tourist navigation, new routes of tourist buses, participation in international tourism exhibitions.

Today we can confidently say that tourism is becoming a full branch of the urban economy.

Among other things, this is due to the appearance on the tourist map of the republic of Sviyazhsk and Bulgar. They linked Kazan with unique World Heritage sites.

Allow me separately thank Mintimer Shaimiev and Rustam Minnikhanov for this. Not just finances and management decisions have been invested in the reconstruction of these shrines, but the soul and love for the history of our Motherland!

The completion of the construction of the Cathedral of the Our Lady of Kazan, also, thanks to the initiative of our President, will attract pilgrims and tourists not only from Russia, but already from all over the world.

Our task is to continue the systematic work on increasing the tourist attractiveness of Kazan in all spheres. First, the further development of hospitality sphere. Secondly, the development of event tourism (by the way, the festival “Delicious Kazan” is the leader in attendance and demand: 50 thousand visitors and the Grand Prix in the finals of the prestigious RussianEventAwards National Award). Third, the work on the development and expansion of tourist attraction points. New tourist sets are being developed along with the Kremlin, the Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda, and the Family Center “Kazan”.

We plan to meet the 5-millionth tourist in Kazan by 2030.

From year to year, Kazan is becoming a more comfortable city. We have kindergartens, schools, universities, and healthcare facilities, and opportunities for career and cultural growth.

Due to this, Kazan citizens confidently look to the future, create families, and give birth to children.

Demography

More than 21 thousand babies were born in Kazan over the past year.

From 1994 to 1998, no more than ten thousand babies were born in the city every year.

The historic minimum birth rate was recorded in Kazan20 years ago when less than 9 thousand children were born.

The birth rate began to increase only from the beginning of the 2000s.

Since 2010, Kazan has set demographic records for seven years.

However now, parents are representatives of a small generation of the 90s. That is why we have seen a slight drop in the birth rate in the city for the last 2 years.

Even with this recession, 2.3 times more children are born today in Kazan than in 2000.

Over the past years, the structure of births has changed in the direction of increasing the second and subsequent children, whereas previously the majority were first children.

The traditional for Kazan significant excess of the birth rate over mortality by 1.6 times makes it possible to classify our city as a sustainable one.

Kazan is the leader among the cities of the Volga Federal District in terms of this indicator. In the rating of million-population cities, we continue to lead in the number of births per 1000 inhabitants.

In his message to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin outlined the common task for everyone to save people: to achieve natural population growth by 2023-24.

At the same time, he clearly identified practical proposals and instructions, the so-called direct action solutions.

I believe that such a task can be accomplished with such unprecedented support of the institution of motherhood, childhood, and family!

Due to the high birth rate and external inflow, the population of the capital in 2018 was 1 million 251 thousand people; 21% of them are children under 16 years old.

Therefore, it is important and necessary for us to provide our children with quality and affordable care and education.

Education

There are 324 kindergartens, 174 schools, and 48 supplementary education facilities in Kazan.

Thanks to the overhaul program that you started, Mr. President, 137 schools of Kazan older than 1981 were repaired since 2012.

The overhaul of kindergartens has been launched as well.

In total, 186 kindergartens older than 1983 were built in Kazan, 34 have already been repaired.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, for your decision to include additional types of work in the overhaul program (building fire exits, updating kitchens, repairing internal passages and fences).

For 2019, a repair program has been prepared for 16 preschool institutions and one school.

The number of schools and kindergartens over 30 years old is increasing. They require special attention.

3 schools were delivered in 2018, 2 more are under construction.

3 kindergartens were built in 2018.

However, despite the serious pace of construction of educational facilities, they are still not enough!

The number of first-graders over 10 years has increased almost 2 times. In 2019, we already expect 19 thousand first-graders.

Almost 40% of schools work in two shifts with more than 18 thousand children.

Almost 53 thousand children are in the line to kindergartens. Problem zone for us is providing places for children from 1 year to 3 years.

Thanks to the initiative and support of the leadership of our republic and the President, construction of 11 more kindergartens has begun, construction of another 20 is planned.

One of the outcomes of all this work is an increase in the performance of our children.

Last year, we have been fair criticized for the quality of knowledge in some subjects.

And we learned the lesson and even surpassed Moscow and St. Petersburg in some subjects.

The number of 100-point results doubled from 46 to 89, which is 46.4% of the republic’s figures.

For example, biology, where every 9th excellent student of Russia is a Kazan graduate. This is 5.5 times higher than the national average, including in physics – 1.4 times, chemistry – 2 times, and computer science – 4 times.

We also stand the competition with both capitals in Russian and mathematics.

Events to support gifted children allowed the team of Kazan schoolchildren to perform well at the All-Russian Olympiad. The share of winners from Kazan is 2 times higher than from St. Petersburg.

Children should devote part of their free time from school lessons to their hobbies: sports, creativity, music, clubs, sections, and teen clubs.

Since 2013, 24 teen clubs have been restored in Kazan, covering more than 12500 children.

In 2018, 8 clubs received new life. Their capacity after repair increased by 15%.

Statistics is simple: the more such clubs there are, the fewer crime children are involved in over useful work.

This year, 14 teen clubs are included in the program.

One of the few among other cities of the country, we managed to keep the system of country camps. There are 14 of them in Kazan today.

Our most vivid memories are from the summer camps, from the inexpressible atmosphere of children's friendship, dedication to the common cause, and personal success.

Thank you so much, Mr. Presidenth, for the initiative and decisions, thanks to which a complex program of overhaul and construction of summer camps starts from 2019.

The infrastructure of 4 camps will be fully updated in 2019, and one of them will switch to year-round operation. This is not just a facade repair, but a complete renovation.

Today there are many of children's programs implemented with the support of our President.

I believe that with such a level of support and attention of our leadership, we will be able to solve the problems of providing our young Kazan citizens with a decent education and leisure worthy of the capital of the republic!

Healthcare

A year ago, our hospitals and clinics were in terrible condition. On behalf of all Kazan citizens, I would like to thank our President for the initiative and an unprecedented program for the repair of healthcare facilities!

68 health facilities were repaired in Kazan for the total amount of 1 billion 665 million rubles.

At the same time, medical institutions are being provided with new equipment. Thanks to this, our doctors work and their patients are treated in decent conditions.

Physical Education and Mass Sports

Physical education and sports are paramount of importance in maintaining health.

We had a lot of criticism preparing for the Universiade and building new facilities. What will happen to them afterward?

I will surely answer: today, all the sports facilities in Kazan are occupied from the early morning until late evenings. There are 2053 of them: ice rinks, football fields, volleyball courts, and swimming pools.

All-year-round sports and athletics competitions, championships and championships take place in Kazan in addition to 12 major international competitions in the reporting year.

Thousands of citizens engage in physical exercise daily in yards, renovated parks and squares, on ski tracks, and in hockey boxes at schools.

The reporting year was marked by another victory of our masters - the hockey club “Ak Bars” won the Gagarin Cup for the third time!

Thanks to our team and company “Tatneft” for an invaluable contribution to the development of children's and professional sports, for all social projects in which our oil workers take part!

Watching our masters, children are drawn to the sport.

In the 2018 season, over 4 thousand children took part in the “Leather Ball”, and 1800 children participated in the “Golden Puck”!

The total number of regularly engaged in physical culture and sports was 45%. It is more than 530 thousand, every second Kazan citizen at the age of 3 years.

We set ourselves the task of achieving new records so that the rate of those involved in sports will grow to 48% by the end of 2019!

Charity

We cautiously, without imposing and lowering directives, create an atmosphere of goodness and charity in Kazan step by step. Our goal is to make the capital not just a comfortable modern city, but to breathe the fresh wind of good deeds into it.

We started with small steps, you all remember our first school fairs.

Today, dozens of initiatives of our citizens are being implemented, which were united by the project “Good Kazan”. It is like a single window into which representatives of charitable foundations and initiative groups can apply with their projects and requests.

We donated the premises of more than 1000 square meters to the charitable warehouse of the Foundation “Day of Good Deeds”. Over the year, more than 8 thousand people received help, and the number of fund assistants increased to 20 thousand.

The All-Russian Forum “Good Kazan. Charity: the experience of the regions” was already held for the 3rd time in our City Hall. Last year, it became the All-Russian one; philanthropists from 30 cities came to us.

More than 8 million rubles have been raised over the years of our joint Internet project with Mail.ru.

We hold good fairs in parks and squares where we have already collected more than 20 million rubles and sent them to help those in needs.

In September, we held the All-Russian Open Swimming Tournament “Winning Together” for children with Down Syndrome for the first time.

This year marks 5 years since the opening of the unique complex “Yardem”, a training and rehabilitation center and a mosque.

New Year's festive plays with gifts for socially unprotected children were organized at the expense of the deputies.

Thanks to the support of our President and the initiative of the maestro Igor Krutoy, a People's Artist of Russia, a unique festival “Good Wave” originated in Kazan, which was marked by the grant of the President of the RF.

The project gathered children from orphanages, children without parental care, from large and low-income families with disabilities.

900 children from all over the country took part in it in 2018.

This year competitions will take place in Kazan, Kursk, Krasnodar, Sevastopol, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, and Moscow.

The final stage of the festival, according to tradition, will end with a gala concert, which we look forward to in our capital.

From this platform, I want once again to thank all the benefactors and you personally, Mr. President!

Conclusion

We briefly talked about the main results of the city development, achievements, and problems, and outlined the tasks and prospects for the further development of our capital.

One of our main tasks for the current year is preparation for events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of our republic.

Events commemorating the anniversary have begun even today. They will be held all year, creating a festive mood of citizens and our guests.

We are proud that we have preserved our rich cultural heritage, the language of Gabdulla Tukay and Mazhit Gafuri, tolerance, peace, and friendship among all the peoples of Tatarstan.

It is important to pay attention to the history of our republic in schools and universities, libraries, at meetings with our war and labor veterans.

In the fall, elections of deputies of the State Council of the RT will take place. Unlike the parties, which are revived only during the election period, United Russia has been active throughout the entire period.

The election results are an objective assessment of our activities by citizens, an indicator of the level of trust for the government.

On March 18, 2018, in the election of the President of Russia, the overwhelming majority of Kazan citizens (almost 76%) voted for the candidacy of Vladimir Putin, that is, for the correct course of country development.

As he said on February 20 in his Address, “people cannot be fooled, they feel disrespect and injustice....”

Therefore, the development of the system of relations “Power and Society” requires our special attention.

This system cannot and should not be one-way. It must be equal, every citizen has the right to express his opinion. Everyone must be heard.

Work with citizens' appeals is both our responsibility and planning tool.

The structure of appeals directly depends on the work that is carried out in the municipality.

We have fundamentally restructured work with the media. We all remember the times when many officials dismissed publications and journalistic inquiries, preferring to keep silent. Finally, the understanding came that they are a tool for identifying public risks and prompt feedback to the public.

Today, all messages in the media are carefully analyzed and promptly processed. The decision on them is 86%!

For the sixth year, we have been working in the “People's Control” system, like other municipalities.

Today we can confidently say that it has become an invaluable assistant in our work! With the indicator set by the Government of our republic at 50%, our figure was 76%.

The main thing is that we got a real tool for solving urban problems with the participation of residents, and we ourselves learned not to ward off problems, but try to eliminate them.

In recent years, we have managed to achieve a lot. This is the great merit of our entire friendly team led by our President of the Republic, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic, the State Council, all republican and federal ministries and departments, everyone in this room.

But the main merit in this is our citizens. They are concerned about the fate of their city. This can be seen in all mass communications, polls, appeals, personal meetings, and comments in the media and social networks.

I want to express sincere gratitude to Kazan citizens for their concern, criticism, initiatives, advice, kindness, responsiveness, and hard work for the benefit of our hometown.

I believe that together we will make our Kazan beautiful, a city where you want to live, love, learn, and create.

I wish you all new victories and achievements! Good mood and good health! May our beloved city always be dear to you!