Vitaly Saveliev:
By voting in election, a citizen gets the right to demand what was promised

The Ministry of Transport is one of those federal departments whose work is always in plain sight. In recent years, the situation in the transport sector has been dynamically changing for the better. The Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Vitaly Saveliev talks about the work of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, the personal contribution of industry employees and interaction with the legislative authorities.

- In recent years, with the Ministry of Transport’s assistance, many worthy pages have been written in the history of our Fatherland. Let's recall the Crimean Bridge and the Tavrida highway, the Moscow Central Ring and two dozen modernized or built from scratch airport terminals. All this was created under the statutory and regulatory role of your department. What would you personally call the main success in your field of work?

- The role of the Ministry in the life of the country is growing. Our projects open up opportunities for trade and for the country’s development, as well as connect most remote regions of the country together. Russia is becoming an important transport corridor due to its geographical location.

Over the past five years, our department has achieved serious success in implementing large-scale projects. During their implementation, we have been working closely with the deputies of the State Duma. The main event was the launch of the railway and automobile roads of the Crimean Bridge. The opening ceremony was attended by the President of Russia. He noted that this is "a world-class infrastructure project, the largest bridge by length not only in Russia, but also in Europe."

The Central Ring Road is the largest project in the field of road infrastructure in the Moscow region for today. The new highway has become the basis of the backbone network of high-speed highways in Russia and part of international transport corridors. The road intersects 13 federal highways. During the construction of the Central Ring Road, 225 artificial structures (including 55 bridges, 144 overpasses, 7 eco-bridges and 19 pedestrian crossings) and 18 traffic intersections were built. The length of the highway is 336.5 km. It unloads the Moscow Ring highway and the road network of the Moscow region from transit transport. The President of Russia attended the opening of the Central Ring Road and thanked all those involved in the opening.

Another major success of the transport industry is the four-lane highway "Tavrida" which has become the main artery of the peninsula, connecting the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol with the Crimean Bridge. The "Tavrida" highway corresponds to the technical category 1B, the speed is 90 km/h. The capacity of the road is 40 thousand cars per day. From now on the journey from Kerch to Sevastopol will take less than three hours, although it used to take a whole day.

Another important infrastructure project is the M-11 “Neva” Moscow − St. Petersburg highway. M-11 highway passes through six territorial subjects: Moscow, St. Petersburg, as well as Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and Leningrad regions. As part of the construction, 337 artificial structures and 30 transport interchanges were built. The entire length of the highway corresponds to the parameters of the highest technical category with 4 lanes for traffic. From 6 to 10 lanes have been built at the sections directly near Moscow and St. Petersburg. 

The “Neva” is also associated with The Unmanned Logistics Corridors project, aimed at creating infrastructure and organizing unmanned cargo transportation between Moscow and St. Petersburg by the end of 2024. If successful, it is planned to scale the solutions tested on the M-11 highway to other routes, including sections of the "Europe – Western China" international transport route, the M-1 "Belarus" and M-4 "Don" highways.

As a successful example in the field of international cooperation, we can mention a large-scale project for transshipment of Belarusian oil products in Russian ports after reorientation from the Baltic ports. This project was implemented on the instructions of the President of Russia. According to the agreement signed with Belarus, almost 10 million tons of Belarusian oil products should be transported over the next years. In the first month after the conclusion of the intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Belarus, from March 5 to April 5, 2021, the volume of transshipment of oil products exceeded 222 thousand tons, compared to the originally announced 176 thousand tons. Thus, the task set by the President was exceeded in the most expeditious terms.

- Today in Russia, like everywhere in the world, there is a general digitalization trend. It is known that your Ministry is also developing a number of proposals in this area. But the executive power acts in the legal field created by the legislative power. What was the interaction between the Ministry of Transport and the State Duma on this topic?

- I have worked for many years in commercial structures, where the most important thing is to have effect. Being a minister, I adhere to the same policy. My predecessors did a tremendous job, and I am grateful to them for this. Now a new time has come — a time of high technologies and high speed, so all our work is focused on the widespread introduction of digital technologies.

In summer 2020, digital technologies began to be applied to the transit of goods passing through the territory of Russia. This was due to the launch of the state cargo tracking system using electronic navigation seals based on GLONASS and the empowerment of the sealing operator - The Center for the Development of Digital Platforms company. With the help of electronic seals, carriers and shippers were able to track the routes of their cargo online.

Most recently, on July 2, a law was adopted introducing the state information system of electronic transport documents. The law is truly revolutionary, its adoption is a great victory for both the Ministry of Transport and our colleagues from the State Duma. The essence of the law is simple — to convert paper transport documentation into electronic form. In Russia, logistics companies, carriers and shippers annually processed more than 3 billion documents in paper form. The costs of this process amounted to 2-2.5% of the annual turnover of transport enterprises. In 2022, it is planned to convert all transport documents into electronic form not only in Russia, but also at the interstate level.

- At first glance, the Ministry of Transport can hardly complain to be neglected by deputies. Dozens of laws, developed by your department as a legislative initiative, have been adopted in the State Duma. But what in reality? Did you manage to realize everything you wanted? How would you evaluate the work of legislators from the, so to speak, "selfish" point of view of your department?

- If we talk in dry figures, during the period of work of the State Duma of the seventh convocation, 45 laws, in the development of which our department took an active part, were adopted in the field of transport. The most significant were the laws on electronic transportation documents, the ban on disembarking stowaway children from public transport, and the licensing of bus passenger transportation.

Due to the specifics of the Ministry, we cooperate not only with the relevant transport Committee, but also with related Committees on International Affairs, on Security and Anti-Corruption, on Budget and Taxes, and many others. I would like to thank, first of all, the Speaker of the State Duma Viacheslav Viktorovich Volodin for his productive work. I also express my gratitude to the deputies of all parliamentary parties: they are professional and experienced people.

- For you and your department, it seems unnecessary to ask if there is a living evidence proving that ministerial work is not just about papers, that it can be felt in real life and improves the quality of people's lives, changes it for the better. Your work and its results are accepted by millions of citizens every day. And not always without criticism. Still, as for new roads and digitalization projects, this is, so to speak, a global job. And what could you highlight among the activities of the ministry, when it was your, I mean, the ministry's employees' joint efforts that directly improved the lives of fellow citizens?

- Many of our initiatives are aimed at this. For example, subsidizing preferential fares for family travel on long-distance trains. The reduced fare will be calculated as the difference between the cost of a ticket in a compartment and 50% of its cost in a car with reserved seats. This project has been approved by the Government.

Flights of citizens from the cities of the Far East, Kaliningrad and the Crimea to Moscow are already subsidized.

We are also working to regularly update the rolling stock of passenger public transport. For example, in July, new NEFAZ buses purchased as part of The Safe and High-Quality Roads national project entered the main city routes in Novosibirsk and Cherepovets. The buses are comfortable, spacious, equipped for people with limited mobility, have a cashless payment system, a place for a wheelchair.

At the moment, a "Ediniy" ticket has been launched in several regions of Russia – this is a multimodal transport transportation system.

- Let me ask the same question with regard to your ministry, to the industry. After all, public administration is a complex professional sphere, the effectiveness of which depends to a great extent on the effectiveness of the work of state employees. In 2020, the Government allocated new resources to increase the remuneration of state employees. In general, today in Russia, 54 million citizens are recipients of state support in various forms. What does this mean for your department? What kind of work is being done in the Ministry of Transport to increase the motivation of state employees?

- The Russian government really provides serious financial support to state employees, including employees of our Ministry, for which we express our gratitude to the Government. These funds help to attract honored professionals and promising young specialists to the state service, and adequately pay for their work.

If we are talking about employees of the transport sector as a whole, they are employees of various subordinate structures of the Ministry, each of which gives them its own privileges.

If we are referring to the employees of the Ministry, they are all located in Moscow. They have some motivational privileges. First of all, it is worth mentioning the departmental clinic — the Central Clinical Hospital of Civil Aviation. All employees of the Ministry and their families with children are attached to it and receive high-quality medical care there. After a large-scale modernization, the polyclinic of the Russian University of Transport also opened on June 18. In addition to large-scale repairs and equipment purchases, the polyclinic implemented the Digital Polyclinic project, which implies the use of digital technologies in administrative procedures.

In general, the motivation of employees begins during their studying in branch educational institutions. Today, Russian transport universities have significantly improved the quality of training, reaching the best world standards by this parameter. Studying at modern universities with a strong scientific base, future employees of the transport sector understand the prospects and privileges of this career path. Graduates and employees of these educational institutions are attracted by government and business structures for various projects. In particular, scientists of the main branch university of the country — the Russian University of Transport — participate in the development of the Arctic zone and the Northern Sea Route, a Transpolar expedition to study the possibilities of developing the Northern Latitudinal course, are engaged in scientific support for the construction of large infrastructure projects (for example, transport facilities of the Yamal Peninsula), a survey of the Salekhard – Igarka Polar highway.

In order for employees to feel comfortable in the transport environment, it is important to support them in other areas of life, in particular, in the family. Holidays and matinees are organized for the children of our employees, for example, a New Year's Tree. On the Children's Day, we open the doors of our Ministry for them: we invite them to the departmental museum, tell them about the history of transport development and current trends in our country, so that the younger generation understands what an important task their parents are engaged in.

For people who devote their lives to transport, it is important to understand that even after retirement they will not be forgotten. Therefore, we treat their merits with special respect, we invite them to industry events and holidays. Our industry councils of veterans regularly visit them at home. Veterans are not left "overboard" – their advice is listened to, and their opinion is taken into account.

During the pandemic, despite a significant drop in the number of passengers, not a single major transport company has been closed in the country. Here, an important role was played by the employees of these structures, who, often risking their health, continued to ensure the vital activity of our country. As a result, traffic in Russia did not stop: planes flew, trains and public transport run as scheduled.

Roads continued to be built throughout the country. Moreover, in the field of road management, 2020 was the most productive year in the last decade: 390 km of roads were built (for comparison, it was 318 km in 2019), 267 km were reconstructed (249 km in 2019), major repairs were carried out on 1984 km of roads (1888 km in 2019).

In time when the number of decease cases was increasing rapidly, it was decided to urgently evacuate Russian tourists from different countries. For this purpose, a working group was created under the leadership of the Ministry of Transport to organize the interaction of the country's largest airlines. They sent planes to the countries where our citizens were located and filled in all the seats regardless of which company's tickets tourists had. In total, more than 250 thousand Russians were taken out during the work of the group. And they were not left alone at the arrival airports, for special internal routes were organized for them to return to their locality.

It is worth noting that in the unprecedented situation of the pandemic, the Russian Government provided great support to the transport industry. This assistance helped the industry to stay afloat.

Unfortunately, the pandemic is far from over. There is already a way out of this situation – Russia was the first in the world to invent and register a vaccine against COVID-19. I urge everyone to follow my example and get vaccinated. The experience of foreign countries shows that with the increase in the number of vaccinated people, the disease inevitably goes down.

- The Ministry of Transport performs the functions of developing state policy and regulatory regulation in the transport sector, where there are many players – state corporations, companies with state participation, and large business structures. As far as we know, serious work was done to divide powers with Rosatom, which received the authority to develop the Northern Sea Route. Is the regulatory framework regulating the relations between your ministry and other subjects of law and economic activity in the transport sector sufficiently complete and convenient? What do you have to work on with the new members of the State Duma? What would you like to change in your collaborative work?

- Our colleagues from Rosatom and us have been actively working on dividing powers in the development of the Northern Sea Route. This work was necessary to avoid duplication of functions. For such productive work, I want to thank my colleagues from the Government, the State Duma and Rosatom who helped us resolve controversial issues.

Several areas are important to us in cooperation with the State Duma. First of all, these are the national projects implemented by our department: The Safe and High-Quality Roads project and A Comprehensive Plan for the Modernization and Expansion of the Main Infrastructure project which were extended until 2030. Secondly, it is The Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2030 with a Forecast up to 2035, a system document that will determine the future of our country in terms of transport and infrastructure development. We expect to work with the new Duma no less actively and productively in these areas than with the previous one.

Answering the question about the completeness of the regulatory framework, let me note that now one of the priorities in the development of the transport industry is the implementation of digital technologies and unmanned vehicles. Such innovations will require new legislation, which we will form together with our colleagues from the State Duma. Therefore, the most convenient regulatory framework is the one that meets the demand of time.

- After the amendments to the Constitution of Russia being adopted last year, the role of the State Duma has significantly increased, now deputies will participate in forming the personal composition of the Russian Government. In other words, the Government will henceforth, to a certain extent, be a party Government. And in order for it to work effectively without getting bogged down in interparty squabbles, the people of the country – including, of course, state employees – must vote consciously, responsibly and actively, so that worthy and constructive politicians are chosen as deputies. In this sense, what, in your opinion, should be the portrait of an effective deputy?

- Undoubtedly, a deputy should be a professional in the chosen industry. But I would put the desire to help people in the first place. Professional skills can be developed, theory can be studied, but personal qualities are either there or not.

During my interaction with the State Duma, I noticed these traits in my fellow parliamentarians, thanks to which we spoke the same language.

- Are you going to vote in the upcoming election? Why do you think it is important to take part in the voting? For what, for what values, for what future decisions do you personally plan to vote?

- There is no such question for me – to vote or not to vote. I always vote. This is my civic position, my civic duty, on the basis of which I, as a citizen, get the right to demand the fulfillment of what was promised. How can one live in a democratic society and at the same time ignore its most important institutions?

As a minister, I will vote for professionalism, commitment to progress and stable development. As a citizen, I will vote for the values that are important for everyone: support for family and motherhood, security and future for our children. In this I am no different from other citizens of our country.

Based on the article by the press service of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation