MINSK, 20 October (BelTA) – Regional councils of deputies should be more active and responsible while implementing national programs, including those on the development of small towns, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Boris Batura said at the 16th session of the Vitebsk oblast council of deputies. “Local authorities should implement projects in a more energetic way. You should also take a risk, like the government does,” Boris Batura added. According to him, village and town councils do not show due initiative in addressing economic issues, creating efficient productions and attracting investors. “This problem is endemic: regional authorities think that the problems will be settled by oblast and national authorities. If a company is not doing well, let’s transfer the ownership to national authorities instead of looking for solutions on a grass-root level using a system of the preferences provided by the state”, Boris Batura said. The Chairman of the Council of the Republic criticized the work of local authorities on implementing a program to develop small towns in the Vitebsk oblast. This program goes beyond creating new jobs and productions. What matters most is creating decent living conditions for the residents of these towns and villages, he underlined; therefore the local authorities should adopt a more pragmatic approach. Forty towns of the Vitebsk oblast are included in the national complex program on the development of regions, small and medium-sized towns. Beginning 2007 when the program was launched, 15,300 jobs were created, the unemployment rate dropped from 2.5% to 1.1% as of 1 October 2009. Some Br1.1 trillion was invested in the economy of these towns, over 200 investment projects were implemented, and about 90 productions were set up. However in H1 2009 the targets of the national program were not reached in 12 small towns, unemployment grew in 20 towns. Out of ten major projects included in the national investment programme, only four were implemented.

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