Narva presents €400 million worth of development plans to finance ministry
Narva City Government has sent a list of transitional actions to the Ministry of Finance consisting of 73 ideas totalling more than €400 million. Opposition politicans doubt the justification of the list, however.
The list of transitional plans consists of 73 actions that require €430 million in total to see through, which is four times the border city's budget.
Mayor of Narva Aleksei Jevgrafov said: "Well, this is our dream and because noone can say right now which projects we can see through, we put them all on paper and will discuss them in detail after, when we know what the criteria is for support money."
Among other things, the Narva wishlist would see its old town buildings restored and new ones developed, the city bastions renovated, new sports venues and roads developed, but also a care home and city sauna constructed.
Jevgrafov understands that receiving funds for all these projects is unreasonable and their priority is the living environment of the city and the social sector.
The mayor said: "Certainly, an emphasis must be put on our social projects, the new care home for example. We have more than 600 people queued up currently, we must offer them this service in Narva. These are very important projects. I especially like that we could restore our former Gerassimov culture house. That could hold a theatre but we need the state's help. I know the people would approve it."
The leader of opposition political group Meie Narva, Riigikogu's anti-corruption committee head Katri Raik (Social Democrats) asked how the list is in correspondence with transitional priorities.
Raik said: "The making of the list has regretfully left out what the transitional fund is actually meant for. The list does not have a single word about creating jobs, business diversification and at the same time, the approved development plan for next year currently has allocated €4,300 for business development. That is ridiculous."
The Social Democrat continued: "So we can certainly dream what could be the one, two, maybe three things Narva really needs and that should be based on public opinion surveys and research, not just the personal desires of some politicians."
According to the mayor, the ideas sent to the finance ministry are based on proposals from the city government, council and active citizens, collected over the last six months.
Prior finance ministry surveys have shown that locals feel the lack of high-paying jobs and progress-stopping local municipality governments are the weakspots of local life.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste