I. Metshin: "We see Kazan in 2020 as a magnet city where you will want to come and...

(Kazan, KZN.RU, September 6, by Zilya Gayfi) The forum of active party members of the United Russia Kazan branch in anticipation of the upcoming September 14 elections to the State Council of Tatarstan was held in Kazan. It was attended by President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, who leads the party election list, and Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin. Chairman of the RT State Council, secretary of the Tatarstan branch of the United Russia party Farid Mukhametshin also attended the conference.

More than a thousand people – representatives of the deputies corps, managers of industrial enterprises, heads of educational institutions, health care and culture and sports workers – gathered in the Universiade International Information Center.

Ilsur Metshin summarized Kazan's development in the last five years. The capital of Tatarstan has made good progress in many respects. The most notable changes have occurred in the social sphere. Thus, the official level of unemployment has been reduced, and today it is at its all-time low. Crime has fallen by more than 1.5 times. Thanks to the affordable housing program, 15,000 families have moved into new homes, 8,700 of which are the families of public sector employees.

According to I. Metshin, much work has been done in the field of construction and repair of housing, educational institutions and road infrastructure. Over the past five years, 88 new kindergartens, 33 sports centers and 33 sports grounds appeared in Kazan; 721 roofs with a total area of 682.4 thousand sq.m. were renovated, 4.76 million sq. m. of housing were built and 89 schools were repaired under the three-year republican construction program. The development of social infrastructure could not help affecting the population growth: in the last five years, more than 106 thousand babies were born in the city, and the population growth amounted to 60 thousand.

The mayor of Kazan spoke about city development prospects until 2020. "We see Kazan as a city with a strong economy that creates high surplus value and high-paying jobs. We expect our defense enterprises to introduce new technologies and replace imported products. How do we see Kazan in 2020? As an international center, well known and respected throughout the world, a magnet city where you will want to come and stay, a place where talents flourish and dreams come true," concluded the mayor.