Grodno District, 18 August (BelTA) – We need to think over measures to reduce the cost of timber for residential construction, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he visited the V.I. Kremko production cooperative in Grodno District, BelTA has learned.
The head of state asked how the farm is addressing the housing problem. He highlighted the construction of rental housing. Recently, timber has increased in prices. Belarus has enough of this resource. In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko instructed to think over measures to reduce the cost of timber, in particular for the construction of housing in rural communities.
The president stated that in Grodno Oblast there are certain shortages of housing in rural communities, for employees of enterprises. “Housing construction is very expensive today. Timber has risen in prices most of all. When I fly over the country I see forests all around," the Belarusian leader said. “We have lots of forests. Sometimes we don't have time to recycle it. When we do, it is sawn into boards (I forbade the export of logs) and taken abroad. Meanwhile our people have to pay a lot of money to build a wooden house."
Aleksandr Lukashenko wants the government to think over a mechanism to sell timber at a lower cost for the construction of housing of employees of such enterprises. Thus, the personnel issue will also be resolved, as people will be interested to stay in rural communities. "We have timber. Why don't we sell timber to farmers on the cheap. A house will be 10 times cheaper. But the houses built with the use of this mechanism should be rented and owned by an enterprise,” the head of state said. “We need to see how to reduce the cost of timber for the construction of residential buildings."
The head of state also suggested giving the right to a person to buy out the house after a certain period of work at an enterprise. “But first of all we need reduce the cost of this construction. We need to reduce the cost of housing construction. It's a disgrace that people pay such big money while there is a lot of timber in the country. We need to address this issue over the winter," the head of state said.
