ST. PETERSBURG, June 8. /TASS/. The level of wages in the northern regions should compensate for the complicated living and working in harsh climatic conditions in order to attract people to the Arctic, the Arkhangelsk Region's Governor Alexander Tsybulsky said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"We need to ensure that young, creative, smart people, who want to develop the country and the Arctic, would come to work there. For that, we need to create more attractive conditions. So that when coming to the North, with all the challenges a young person will face there, everyone must understand what a possible compensation will be," he said.

One of the main tasks in developing the Arctic Zone is to preserve the population, as well as to attract new residents, primarily young people, he continued. "Now that wages at shipbuilding enterprises in Severodvinsk are two-thirds of wages payable at shipbuilding enterprises in St. Petersburg, it would not be a too smart forecast to see the intensifying trend, where people would be moving to the beautiful big metropolis of St. Petersburg," the governor noted.

The issues related to improving the quality of life and creating new opportunities for the North's residents are taken into account during work on master plans for the Arctic backbone settlements' development, he said. Such documents provide for implementation of infrastructure, social and environmental projects for the macroregion's long-term development.

Approaches to Arctic development

Russia's Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunkov spoke about the implementation of backbone settlements' masterplans that ensure the quality of life improvement as well and the macroregion's economic growth. "We have structured the masterplans so that to emphasize that people will have good jobs. With the stock of resources and the economy, the Arctic should not just pay for itself, it should bring revenues," the minister said.

The masterplans' total cost is 2.9 trillion rubles ($40 billion), where 1.7 trillion ($23 billion) are planned for investment projects that create new jobs. "This means that people will be earning more. This means they will have higher purchasing power, higher living standards, they will have housing, social infrastructures, and there will be taxes," the minister added.

The Murmansk Region's Deputy Governor of Olga Vovk noted that the region was experiencing an increase in housing construction and the population influx. "We, I must say, have a boom: the housing construction growth in apartment buildings has tripled and in individual housing construction ­ almost by six to seven times," she said.

According to her, the key factor in attracting specialists to the region is the development of a comfortable urban environment and affordable housing, including through a 2% preferential mortgage program. "A comfortable, safe environment has become the main argument for young people to come to the North," she stressed.

About the forum

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) took place from 3 to 6 June. The main theme was "Pragmatic Dialogue: the Path to a Stable Future." The forum's program was devoted to the formation of a new global development model in the context of the global economy transformation.

The forum's organizer was the Roscongress Foundation. TASS was the event's general information partner.