On October 29, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. At least 150 thousand sq. m of housing is planned to be built in Vitebsk in 2013, Igor Kadushko, Head of the Construction Department of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, told a BELTA correspondent. "The housing construction program for 2013 has not yet been approved, but it can be confidently stated that compared to 2012, the amount of housing built will not decrease. The construction volume will be at least 150 thousand sq. m," said Igor Kadushko. He also noted that the Bilevo microdistrict will remain the main development area. It is there that the main number of apartment buildings will be built, and the first rental house with 80 apartments in the regional center will be erected. Construction is planned to commence next year. In addition, residential buildings are to be constructed on Aviatsionnaya, Gertsena, and Chapayeva streets. Development in the city center will be carried out on a point-by-point basis. The cost of housing is projected from Br5 million per 1 sq. m. From January to September, 94 thousand sq. m of housing were built in Vitebsk, which amounted to 63.5% of the annual target of 148 thousand sq. m. 52 individual residential houses and 12 apartment buildings (about 1.5 thousand apartments) were commissioned, of which 10 were built with state support. By the end of the year, it is planned to build another 700 apartments and commission 9 apartment buildings. This will allow more than 2.3 thousand families to improve their housing conditions. As noted in the Committee for Architecture and Construction of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, the main reasons for not fulfilling the housing construction target in the regional center were the lack of control over the construction progress by the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, understated requirements and untimely measures taken by the customer, the City Executive Committee's Capital Construction Directorate, as well as unsatisfactory work of individual contracting organizations, particularly RUP "Vitebsk DSK". In total, 600 thousand sq. m of housing are planned to be built in the Vitebsk region in 2013. -0-

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