Mr. Abramov addressed the Moscow-based newspaper, Vremya Novostei to tell about current proceedings on the Chechen top. That was his maiden interview with the federal press as acting president.
Grozny, Chechen capital, hosted an economic rehabilitation conference, May 15. German Gref, federal Minister of Economic Development and Trade, was attending. The gathering appointed priorities and made their implementation schedule. The conferees managed to come to an accord and thoroughly changed their approach to tackling the job. Many high federal functionaries re-appraised Chechen problems. "The ruins they saw in Grozny are a mere tip of a huge iceberg," remarked Sergei Abramov.
A federal target programme to rehabilitate Chechnya needs a thorough rehash to focus it on social welfare, with housing for top priority. Several blocks will be commissioned in Grozny next year, with a total floor space of 660,000 to a million square metres. That will be real new houses-not debris misrepresented as houses to repair, stressed the interviewee.
Construction will start with laying supply lines, as it should. Properly arranged construction will give the economy a revival start. That will be a hopeful start, considering the republic's vast potential.
There is another vital task-to provide affordable terms of housing purchases. Compensations for ruined houses will come in handy, just as mortgages. The federal Savings Bank will soon start offices in Gudermes and Grozny, and the Vneshtorgbank, Russia's leading foreign trade bank, in Grozny.
Mr. Gref will chair a Moscow conference tomorrow on Chechen industrial rehabilitation. Communication targets will be determined within a few days. Construction and farming are of no smaller importance. Top Chechen functionaries will report the republic's achievements to the federal Ministry of Economic Development and Trade every month. They are willing to do so even more often once they make achievements to report.
The people in Chechnya must see that deeds are going hand-in-hand with words. To make rehabilitation progress evident, Chechnya must come over from occasional building projects to large-scale and all-round reconstruction. A comprehensive list is being drawn of projects whose rebuilding has started. If the republic and the federal centre are both efficient enough, practical fruit will come up even next year.
As for supervising Chechen petroleum drilling, no understandings have been made on the issue by now. "I want to stress one point here. The republic has never claimed drilling and sale monopoly-we merely want petroleum revenues to work for our economic progress. In fact, things are going on this way even now-but only few people know it, so anxious questions are asked again and again," said Sergei Abramov.
