Commission on Chechnya's Restoration Gathers for a Session in Grozny

A special governmental commission on restoration of Chechnya's social and economic sphere, headed by Russian Minister of Chechen Affairs Stanislav Ilyasov is meeting on Tuesday to discuss restoration of residential areas and the holding of the referendum on the republic's Constitution, reported a source in Ilyasov's staff. The meeting will be attended by the authorities of the Chechen Republic and officials from Chechnya's operational headquarters.

Last Thursday, the Russian government discussed Russian President Vladimir Putin's orders dealing with restoration of Chechnya's housing stock that was destroyed during the counter-terrorist operation. At the same session, Ilyasov announced restoration of residential areas and payment of compensations for damaged property would take five to six years and cost about 20 billion roubles.

Ilyasov also said his commission would soon approve the lists of people whose property had been damaged or destroyed. He noted that the lists had been drawn up two years ago and that officials had partially evaluated the percentage loss.

"The task facing us is to check the data as quickly as possible and assess the size of compensations for destroyed lodgings," he said.

As of today, the list of refugees contains 261,000 names. Of this number, 186,000 are residing in the private sector and tent camps in Chechnya, 64,000 in the neighbouring Ingushetia, and the rest in other Russian regions.

In 2002, according to the information of the Russian ministry of economic development and trade, Chechnya formed and began realising its own consolidated budget and revived the systems of social welfare, healthcare, education, culture and sports. The top priority of Chechnya's program of reviving economy and the social sphere is to create such conditions that people could return to their former places of abode, as well as restore residential areas and the infrastructure.

In 2002, Chechnya brought into service 353,000 square meters of lodgings, including 1,966 individual and 13 municipal buildings. 20 employment centres functioning in various towns and districts received more than 230,000 people in the course of a year. Doles were paid to 180,000 people.

Chechnya's 456 secondary schools, 28 night schools, 3 higher educational establishments and 19 vocational trading schools are educating 225,000 pupils and students. 390,000 Chechen children are getting monetary grants. More than 40,000 children spent the summer at summer camps and rehabilitation centres.

The republic has also set up a banking system, practically fully restored the fuel-and-energy and oil-and-gas complexes, the communications system and railway traffic, and began restoring industrial enterprises. Tax revenues in Chechnya in 2002 amounted to 23,344,900,000 roubles, including more than 1 billion roubles that went to the republican budget. These receipts became comparable with those of other republics of the North Caucasian region, said RIA Novosti's source.