The mono-town of Serdobsk acquired the status of priority development area (PDA).
Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, announced the decision at the meeting on economic issues on Friday, 16 March 2018.
“Where life depends on a town-forming enterprise that can operate or, unfortunately, cannot operate at all, new investment projects are needed to stimulate the diversification of these territories. We often made such decisions concerning the areas of advanced social and economic development in single-industry towns and cities. I recall that this is legally the case originally intended for creating a driver for excellent mono-discipline education. This strategy is aimed at providing the benefits that would allow attracting private investments,” the head of the Russian government stated.
He also reported that new enterprises in various fields will produce food, furniture, construction materials, and chemicals, as well as process natural resources and develop tourism.
“I would add that these priority development areas will nevertheless continue to be selective, not widespread. PDAs are an unconditional decision due to the fact that there are no other means of invigorating business in these territories,” Dmitry Medvedev noted.
The status of priority development area has been assigned to 19 cities in the country.
Commenting on the news, the governor of the Penza region congratulated Serdobsk authorities and people on the significant event for the city.
“We have done a great deal to assign Serdobsk the status of priority development area. I am grateful to the Government of the Russian Federation for the decision made, which should open up new horizons for the city. We expect that preferences associated with the status will attract substantial investments to Serdobsk,” Ivan Belozertsev emphasised.
“Business development will entail the development of the whole city, as new high-paying jobs will be generated, the quality of life will change, the environment will become more favourable, the demographic indicators will improve, etc.,” the governor added.
“However, the assignment of the status is just the beginning. The strong showing of the authorities, business, and public institutions is required for using this status to maximum effect,” he concluded.
