An open dialogue with Marat Khusnullin was held at the National Centre RUSSIA
Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Marat Khusnullin, became the first guest of the "100 Questions About the Future of Russia" open dialogue series at the National Centre RUSSIA, where he answered questions from the country's residents.
Marat Khusnullin spoke about the scope of housing and road infrastructure construction, modernization of the utilities sector, and the implementation of improvement projects. He also answered the questions from the public, which had been collected on the National Centre RUSSIA website.
"We received thousands of questions; we only managed to answer a fraction, and we will continue this work. Naturally, people are curious about the future of housing, mortgages, and roads. Many questions were about the ongoing work in our core regions, the continuation of modernization efforts in utility infrastructure, future improvement plans, and the goals we aim to reach by 2030," Marat Khusnullin shared.
The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that in recent years, construction has taken a significant share of the economy and has consistently grown every year.
"Neither the pandemic nor sanctions affected our development; every year, we continued to steadily grow. And what does this mean? It means the construction materials industry, transport, and all financial services also grew. In other words, construction is an economic driver. Our task is to maintain this positive trend," said Marat Khusnullin.
He also highlighted that inflation control is now a top priority for the government. Decisions, including on the future of subsidized mortgages, will depend on this.
"Currently, under the President’s directive, extensive work is underway to achieve our national development goals. By 2030, we aim to increase housing availability to 33 square meters per person. To reach this goal, it is necessary to introduce at least 100 million square meters of living space annually. This means that every fifth square meter in the country will be new. Significant results have also been achieved in road development. Over the past six years, more than 140,000 km of roads have been built, reconstructed, and repaired across Russia. In the regions, nearly 1 billion square meters of asphalt have been laid. Additionally, under the President’s directive, we plan to build around 50 bypasses for populated areas by 2030," stated the event’s main speaker of the meeting.
Marat Khusnullin noted the growing role of digitalization and AI in the construction sector and emphasized the importance of restructuring the entire system "from the top." He also outlined the qualities of the "builder of the future," who should, above all, be educated, achieving results not through mass scale but by increasing productivity and management quality.
The open dialogue also covered topics such as growth hub cities and their influence on the future of the regions and the country, as well as current transport issues and ways to address them, and social support measures.
Representatives of business, educational organizations, and regional authorities took part in the event. Anton Glushkov, President of the National Association of Builders, spoke about ways to reduce the investment cycle in construction. Dmitry Shvidkovsky, President of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences, emphasized the importance of preserving students' creativity amid rapid technological changes.
Ilya Seredyuk, Governor of Kuzbass, shared experiences of effective restructuring and systematic regional development. Dmitry Denisov, Mayor of the Kaluga city, highlighted major achievements in the development and modernization of the regional centre’s public transportation network. Roman Novikov, Head of the Federal Road Agency, named key solutions in transport infrastructure safety.
Denis Pushilin, Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, discussed the pace and results of regional restoration efforts.
"We are treated like family, so we see the results in the restoration of damaged buildings and structures, major renovations, construction of new facilities, and bringing infrastructure up to national average standards. We see interest from developers and investors, and there is active work underway on land allocation. A tremendous amount of work has been done in two years, and much more lies ahead, but I am confident that with this pace and support, we will handle everything," noted Denis Pushilin.
Oleg Melnichenko, Governor of the Penza Region, also highlighted the high pace of construction in the region.
"In the past three years, we have launched 18 modular boiler plants, repaired more than two kilometers of heat networks, and upgraded 11 heat supply sources. We implemented a project to optimize the heat supply system in the regional centre and made provisions for connecting future heat loads. For further development, we have created a regional comprehensive plan to modernize the utility infrastructure systems through 2030. We plan further construction and reconstruction of water supply facilities and major network repairs as part of the new national project 'Infrastructure for Life,'" stated Oleg Melnichenko.
At the end of the meeting, participants saw a visualization of the "House of the Future," created by artificial intelligence based on a quick survey of event attendees and online viewers. According to their vision, the housing of tomorrow should have flexible layouts, a separate room for each family member, proximity to essential infrastructure, automation, energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability.
The open dialogue series "100 Questions About the Future of Russia" at the National Centre RUSSIA will feature representatives from federal executive bodies of the Russian Federation, regional speakers, members of the business community and public organizations, and experts from various fields.
Each meeting will focus on one of the national development goals defined by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. Any question about the country's future can be submitted on the National Centre RUSSIA website, and answers to some of them will be shared on air.
The National Centre RUSSIA was established by order of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to preserve the legacy of the International RUSSIA EXPO and to showcase the achievements of the country and its citizens on a permanent basis. Federal government agencies, state companies, corporations, and regions take part in the Centre’s work.
The National Centre RUSSIA is located at 14 Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment, Moscow. The Centre is open from 10:00 to 20:00 every day except Monday.
One of the tracks of the Open Dialogue is "Investments in Human Capital." The pitch session on this topic brought together over 30 speakers.
One of the key topics for discussion within the initiative became "Investments in Connectivity," which attracted 24% of the essay authors about the future of the world.
The pitch sessions on four tracks took place at the National Centre RUSSIA on April 28, with the participation of authors whose essays were selected by the expert council of the National Centre.
