KHABAROVSK, April 25. /ITAR-TASS/. The government of Russia will assist the Khabarovsk shipbuilding plant in getting more orders for manufacture, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev promised on Friday.

"We mull giving a push and lend credits to you so that there be more orders," Medvedev said when socialising with the plant workers. He added that the government uderstands that the plant is lacking a sufficient amount of orders and that it is necessary to ensure its higher utilization.

Prior to talking to the workers, the Premier toured the plant, and inspected ships under construction there, including those under the order placed by Khabarovsk. According to the management of the enterprise, the plant now operates only at 18-20% of its capacity, which is the main problem.

The director of the plant, when speaking of orders placed, said the government of Khabarovsk had placed several orders for air-cushion passenger ships. The plant has available several preliminary applications from foreign partners for the manufacture of three assault landing boats Murena in the 2017-2018 period.

The Premier was also shown a tugboat which the plant is making for the Rosneft Company. One of the plant's staff members related that within the scope of the State-placed defence order for 2016 it is planned to purchase six amphibious ships Murena and that the Khabarovsk plant intends to become the only supplier of those ships.

In order to extend the range of vessels made at the plant, Medvedev suggested contemplating the construction of fishing boats as well.

After touring the shipbuilding yard, Medvedev came up to workers who asked him whether the housing construction program would be preserved for supporting young specialists. "Under the 2012 program of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, the plant compiled lists of workers who were in need of housing. However, those lists have remained on paper up to now," one of the Premier's interlocutors related.

"Of course, we shall seek to 'tie up' young specialists at enterprises by providing them with housing. The only to do that is to build housing. There is no other way," Medvedev said.

He suggested spreading the housing mortgaging program being practised in the aviation sector over to the shipbuilding one. "We shall spread it over to shipbuilding, of course," Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade, said in response.