The All-Russian Forum-exhibition "Lands of Russia" has started its work in Moscow

On September 16, the All-Russian Forum–exhibition "Lands of Russia" began in Moscow, the main theme of which is the maximum disclosure of Russia's land potential as one of the most valuable resources of the state.

The flagship of the business program was the plenary session "Russia's Land Potential: improving the efficiency of use." During the event, experts discussed key initiatives to involve unused territories in economic turnover, as well as issues of integrated development of territories and support for the financial sector.

Alexander Lomakin, First Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation, noted that today the government and business have legal and financial instruments to develop the country's land potential.

"We have a large country, but often the efficiency of using certain territories leaves much to be desired. In order to achieve the social and economic benefits of regional development, there is a whole range of measures and actions – legal and financial instruments. One of these main financial instruments is an infrastructure menu – a set of cheap loans that can be obtained by regions, developers, and resource–supplying organizations in order to develop the infrastructure of a particular land plot. And by developing this infrastructure, it creates an opportunity for investors to enter this land plot and implement their investment projects. These are residential areas, industrial facilities, and tourist sites. And such joint work between business and government authorities has the effect of increasing the tax base and extra–budgetary investments in the economy of regions and municipalities," said Alexander Lomakin.

Sergey Pakhomov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, said that in the context of economic challenges, it is a conscious construction policy that comes to the fore.

"Today, there are enough tools to effectively use every square meter of the territory. We have transferred most of them to the regions today. These tools allow us to systematically build our cities in a balanced way. There are support measures, including direct financial ones, and additional funds can also be obtained for infrastructure development.

We do our best to make it as easy as possible to obtain such funds and documentation. The basic mechanism for development today is the CRT mechanism," Sergey Pakhomov emphasized.

One of the central topics of the plenary session was the issue of creating a sustainable and comfortable environment using master plans.

The most important tool for the effective use of the country's land resources is the strategic mechanism enshrined in the Urban Planning Code of the Russian Federation — integrated territorial development (CDT).

During the discussion, experts noted that in modern economic realities, a transition from extensive development of new lands to the rational and efficient use of existing resources is necessary. A separate section of the session was devoted to rural development and support for the banking sector. The session participants agreed that success in improving the efficiency of land potential depends on the coordinated work of all parties: the state, which creates the rules of the game and support measures, business, which is ready to invest, and the expert community, which provides scientific and personnel support.