MOSCOW, September 19 (Itar-Tass) —— The government of Moscow is not planning to relocate Moscow enterprises outside the city, but it will stimulate their effectiveness, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told a meeting with the Moscow confederation of industrialists and entrepreneurs on Monday.
Head of the union, Elena Panina, had told the mayor about the negative experience as some enterprises were relocated outside the city, which practically stopped their work.
“We have not agreed with anyone /the relocation/, we do not have plans to remove manufacturing from Moscow,” Sobyanin said. “We are interested in keeping jobs, in development and life of the city.”
At the same time, he said that the industrial zones which are not used effectively will be reduced in accordance with the city’s general plan under the condition that their industrial potential is kept. Sobyanin said that presently the revenues of industrial zones as per a square metre they occupy make about 20,000 roubles, “which is very little for Moscow.”
“This means that the enterprises have major assets which do not bring profit,” he said. “They become a burden for cost of products and for effectiveness of the enterprise itself.”
Moscow’s growth of industrial production made 14.4 percent from beginning of the year, he said, and unemployment remains at the level of 0.7 percent, while overdue wages are practically none.
“From the beginning of the current year, private companies have increased investments in main capital by ten percent, which is not bad dynamics,” he said.
Sobyanin expressed concern about the amount of wages in Moscow’s industry, saying it makes 70-80 percent of the city’s average wage. This may be explained to a big extent by active attraction of migrants, who, on one hand, save production, but at the same time they “deprave our enterprises, stimulate extensive development, low efficiency, which, in the long run, makes the entire production ineffective.”
The mayor is adamant that authorities should stimulate implementation of new technologies and raising of productivity.
The meeting participants discussed a draft of the city’s state programme to stimulate economic activity and a draft of another trilateral agreement between the government of Moscow, trade unions and employers. They also discussed lowering of administrative barriers for businesses.