President's Plenipotentiary in NCFD plans to update infrastructure

Today, Alexander Khloponin, Plenipotentiary of the newly-formed North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) came to North Ossetia with a working visit. He plans to discuss social and economic issues with the leaders of North Ossetia and visit cultural and educational entities in Vladikavkaz.

The Plenipotentiary started his visit with laying flowers in the memorial cemetery in the "City of Angels", where victims of the terror act in September 2004 are buried; then, the cortege moved to the Memorial of Glory, where flowers were laid in memory of WWII warriors.

Then, Mr Khloponin visited a unit of the 58th Army, where he talked to journalists on how he would attract investments to Northern Caucasus and how the funds would be distributed.

"Ideas and offers abound here and in other subjects of the District. The main idea for discussion is setting up special zones, but not like those that function today, where only regional preferences are granted, but the ones, able to provide federal privileges under federal laws," Mr Plenipotentiary said.

According to Alexander Khloponin, this system will drop the project payback period from 28 down to 8 years. Secondly, as he said, "infrastructure development means roads, airports, energy and communications, which should be created today in order to involve federal resources to achieve the goals."

The Vice-Premier named governmental guarantees as point three.

"Besides, we are concerned, with the head of the state, of the current situation: tax revenues and the budget situation. These are the topics of our future meetings," Mr Khloponin said.

On February 24, at 10:00 a.m. the government will hold a session, where Taimuraz Mamsurov (head of North Ossetia) and Alexander Khloponin will discuss with ministries and agencies the social and economic development of North Ossetia. Then, Khloponin will visit the National Museum and the Russian Drama Theatre. There, he will talk to creative intellectuals.

The visit will be finalized by a meeting at the Mining and Metallurgy Institute (MMI) with the academia and students and a visit to the "Baspik" Hi-Tech North-Caucasian Scientific and Technical Centre, the only Russian manufacturer of micro-channel plates, used all over the world in night vision devices. There are only five such enterprises in the world, engaged in making such plates for space and nuclear industries and for the defence complex.