Advanced Development Zone To Be Created In Russia's Floods-Hit Tulun Town -Prime Minister

GORKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th December, 2019) An advanced development zone will be created in Russia's Siberian town of Tulun, affected by floods this summer, to diversify its economy and attract investment, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

Devastating floods battered Russia's Irkutsk Region in late June, resulting in 26 deaths, leaving four people missing and over 45,000 injured, and affecting almost 11,000 residential buildings. Tulun was among the most affected cities. As new floods hit the region in July, 233 houses were inundated near Tulun alone.

"One more document that I have signed is [a document on creating an] advanced development zone in the Irkutsk region's Tulun," Medvedev said at a meeting with deputy prime ministers.

The government keeps providing necessary assistance, contributing to mitigation of consequences of the natural disaster, the prime minister added.

"However, the territory should receive its own development mechanisms anyway to diversify the local economy, attract additional investment to the region, and to decrease the mono-town's dependence on the local economic mainstay," Medvedev added.