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Georgy Kamnev criticized Penza region’s import replacement plan

09:48 | 02.04.2015 | Economy

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Penza, 2 April 2015. PenzaNews. The member of the Legislative Assembly of the Penza region Georgy Kamnev, first secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party, has criticized the regional import replacement plan: based on his words, only its project has been made public, even though the sanctions against Russia were introduced over a year ago.

Georgy Kamnev criticized Penza region’s import replacement plan

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“Among other things, I was pushed to conduct a detailed analysis of this ‘document’ by the ‘Tsentralnoye Televideniye’ show that featured our permanent governor since 1998 [Vasily Bochkarev] boasting before the federal journalists that his shoes were tailor-made in Penza. Before that, if you can recall, he had presented his shoes to the local media. Of course, this had an incredible success here in Penza, and the newspiece featured in all media, but the federal journalists approached with a greater scrutiny. They researched the production line and found out that the Penza producers can still go nowhere without importing goods,” Georgy Kamnev told PenzaNews agency on Thursday, April 2.

According to him, the authors of the import replacement plan in Penza did so in an unprofessional and superficial way.

“This ought to have been a very important document because it should have been a contribution to reducing the prices for the most important goods: food, children’s items, medicine – and in the end make life of a Penza citizen less tough. Or, should I say, save lives, if we are speaking about ease of obtaining medicine,” the speaker elaborated.

However, in his opinion, the document features goods already produced in the Penza region.

“A small list of such goods: fusible webbing vinyl wallpaper, embeddable electric ovens, industrial and house lights, and more. It is just a list of goods made by the Penza companies. The order to start making such goods is in no way related to import replacement, and I think it was included in the program only blow some smoke in the higher-ups’ eyes and make it larger,” Georgy Kamnev thought.

He stressed that the unprofessional approach of the document authors is especially easy to notice in the list of import replacement stuff that will be made starting in 2015.

“Generators will be made by ‘Penzadieselmash,’ harvesting equipment by ‘Penzmash,’ sliding doors drawers and drawing-room suites by ‘Lerom’ furniture company, ball valves by ‘Penztyazhpromarmatura,’ lights by ‘Radiozavod,’ thirty vases variations by the Nikolsky Industrial Glass Factory, truck liquid tanks and mobile refueling stations by ‘GRaZ,’ wide and narrow caterpillar chassis by ‘Mashstal,’ glass and crystal glass goods (sic) by ‘Bakhmetyevskiy zavod,’ beer, kvas, soda by ‘Ochakovo,’ and cookies, marshmallows, sweets and so forth by the Penza Confectionary Factory. I intentionally listed more examples than needed, so that anybody would understand it is no import replacement plan, it is just a paper to throw away copied from a list of products and goods made in the Penza region. No Penza official thought of striving harder to develop the plan. They simply took the statistics and called it an import replacement program. This is how they care about people,” Georgy Kamnev said.

He also expressed his indignity about the contents of the document section titled “Import replacement in industrial goods.”

“It says it ‘aims to implement a series of investment projects to improve the quality of industrial materials and, subsequently, their competitiveness.’ In example, ‘Mekhanika’ will install a rebar concrete production line, ‘Zhilstroy’ will produce large-sized construction panels. After reading this section, I fully entrenched in the belief that the import replacement plan of the Penza region has been made by junior Economy majors, perhaps with an internship in the regional Ministry of Economy, and who get only C marks. Tell me, how much bricks and rebar concrete blocks do we get from abroad? I can tell you: none. It would be just unreasonable due to exorbitant shipping expenses and availability of source materials. Who is this competitor with which the Penza region Ministry of Economy wants to compete? Their ignorance even of the very basics shows a complete and total degradation of the government body. They are unable to analyze it,” said the Penza Communist party branch head.

He added that the regional import replacement plan has no information for the most major items: which goods and foods they should begin producing, in what volumes, and what help can the state provide.

“The Penza region doesn’t have even a draft of a development strategy. The government does not know what the Penza economy needs, what people should the education institutions prepare. The region officials only react to stuff in the hindsight. The regional government lives in the past, or in the present at best. But nobody things about the future. If this continues, the future will never arrive to the Penza region. As long as the United Russia officials continue to be in the lead, the region will stay in the past,” Georgy Kamnev proclaimed.

Replying to the question on what the CPRF would do if the citizens transferred their trust from the United Russia to the Communists in this crucial moment, the interviewee drew up a list of measures.

“We will analyze the demand for the vital goods and foods; get every producer acquainted with price changes for each type of goods; provide easy access to resources necessary for production, including funds; provide easier access to market, especially large store and drugstore chains; agree on volumes and types of import replacement goods production, country-wide, to avoid creating a surplus of the most profitable goods in the nearest future. And, of course, we will hold the prices,” said the first secretary of the regional Communist Party Committee.

“We will develop a strategic development plan for the Penza region with outline of priority economy areas that will receive state support. Following this plan, we will introduce changes into the programs of the regional educational institutions to prepare professionals for the plan where they will get guaranteed jobs. Only the CPRF will give you confidence in the future,” he stressed.

In the end of the interview, the leader of the Penza Communist party branch called for all socially active people of the city and the region to take part in the May 1 public rally of the International Workers’ Solidarity Day to support the demands to reduce spiked prices, especially for food and medicine.

“We will also demand for creating and strictly following a serious import replacement plan. Sizable salaries first, sizable bills second: this is where we stand. Moreover, we will make sure the lenient officials do real work,” Georgy Kamnev concluded. 

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