I. Metshin: "Ecological safety of citizens must be in a priority"

(Kazan City KZN.RU, November 9, Ksenia Shvetsova). The welfare of the ecological situation in the city is the key to good health of Kazan residents. Also clean and well-maintained city has a high potential to attract tourists, so the issue of environmental safety must always be paramount. This opinion was expressed by the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin on the Business Monday today.

The deputy head of the Office of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare in RT Almas Imamov told about the environmental situation in Kazan. According to him, compliance of indicators of drinking water and air in Kazan hardly violate the established norms. So, at the last time there is a decrease in water samples not meeting hygienic requirements.

"We continue to monitor water quality in the 25 monitoring points throughout the city - said Almas Imams. - We note a significant improvement in the quality of water". He also noted that the results of laboratory testing of samples of air, not meeting hygienic standards, is 1.7%, and the main contribution here vehicles is still making.

According A.Imamov, the improvement of the ecological situation is obvious by the fact that Kazan is among the ten best cities in Russia on environmental ratings of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources in 2014 - the capital of Tatarstan was on the 8th place. The progress is obvious, that in 2012 Kazan took 45th place in the ranking, and in 2013 was on the 16th place. As the Ilsur Metshin said, commenting on the ranking, a significant role in improving the environmental situation was the fact that the city authorities took the active development of electric transport, because, as it is known, public transport is the main cause of air pollution. In addition, on the routes of the city are only low-floor buses of high capacity, appropriate environmental standards "Euro-3", buses of class "Euro-4" were also run. The Mayor also noted the role of the city's numerous actions and projects aimed at the improvement and landscaping of the city, such as the "Green Record", and the reconstruction of parks and squares, accompanied by a large-scale planting of trees and shrubs.

"Everything, that concerns the ecological situation of the city, should have a priority - says I. Metshin. - For 3 years in the environmental rating Kazan stepped from 45th to 8th place - it is a great achievement for us. But we still have many things to strive for. We set the goal for ourselves: to make Kazan the most comfortable city in the country for 5 years, so environmental security is an important issue in our city policy". According to the city head, good ecological situation in the city is the key to good health of Kazan residents. Also clean and well-maintained city has more potential in terms of attracting tourists.

As I. Metshin recalled, the next year was declared the Year of the water protection of zones of Volga and Kama by the President of the Republic, and then work to improve the environmental situation in Kazan, where there are many water bodies, will be continued.