Interview with the new Chairman of the Liozno District Executive Committee
Ours, mine, native
– I am pleased with the people – they are welcoming, friendly towards, one might say, a stranger here for now. Some sympathize with me: they say the district is a bit tough – there are enough problems, – says Sergey Zemchenok.
Sergey Richardovich has behind him: service in the Soviet Army, two higher education degrees, work in the Postavy District Committee of the BSMU, OJSC "Postavyfurniture", where he rose from a carpenter to a director. He was elected deputy of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies of the twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth convocations. In October 2016, he was delegated to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus of the sixth convocation from the Postavy District Electoral District No. 29, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Commission on Economic Policy. He was awarded the titles "Person of the Year of Vitebsk Region – 2008", "Person of the Year of Postavy Region – 2009", "Best Manager of Vitebsk Region – 2015". Delegate of the V All-Belarusian People's Congress.
When Sergey Zemchenok was introduced to the participants of the expanded session of the Liozno District Council of Deputies, he announced the principle of work that he cultivated at the "Postavyfurniture" enterprise, and is now implementing here: "It happened that a newcomer would enter the office and ask: 'Can I buy fiberboard or particleboard at your enterprise, order a tractor for my personal plot?' In such cases, I would tell the visitor: 'Be so kind, step out, think about how to ask the question correctly, and come back.' The person would look for hints from someone in surprise, and upon returning, would already be interested in 'whether it is possible at our enterprise' this or that. If you work here, you must learn once and for all – this is mine, ours, native, and nothing else."
Not new, but relevant
"From my first day as Chairman of the District Executive Committee, I clearly explain that no one will solve our problems, no one will bring order to the land, only we ourselves, the Liozno residents.
The main problem is that we don't know how to make money. To do this, it's important to be able to count it, so that every section of every enterprise becomes profitable. I happened to be put in charge of "Postavy Furniture" in a difficult financial situation, i.e., on the verge of bankruptcy. But the situation was managed. I wasn't ashamed to learn from the leaders of successful enterprises – state-owned and private, which I continue to do now. When the presidential decree "On Debt Restructuring" was issued, according to which the most important thing was to make current payments, not everyone succeeded. My team and I managed. We simply set clear goals and daily monitored their execution, forecasting expenses and costs. Now there is a normal financial situation, a thoroughly renovated building, good equipment, a boiler room running on production waste, not just our own. The cost of production is decreasing year by year.
Why do I recall this, meeting with the chairmen of rural executive committees, enterprise managers, and work collectives of the Liozno region? Let's try to repeat the approach here, which is not new, but always relevant and effective.
Agricultural production predominates in the region, where there are also opportunities to earn money. Life itself is leading this sector towards market relations. In the conditions of the current harvest, Liozno is one of the most affected regions due to bad weather, but we are using every fair-weather day, we are psychologically and technologically prepared not to relax, we are working, trying to do more. The result is not bad. Next: harvest your fields – offer help to a neighboring agricultural enterprise, 10% of the harvested crop is yours. Earn!
Consumer cooperatives and public catering must be profitable – this is fundamentally important. The problem is a shortage of working capital, which has led to a lack of necessary products and goods in the consumer cooperative trade network in the required quantities. Mutual understanding has been reached with the leadership of the regional union of consumer cooperatives. We will cut expenses. Some stores are being transferred to the Beshenkovichi consumer cooperative, which will pay a rental fee for them, albeit a small one, and will provide a loan for goods. The procurement office, warehouses, and vehicle fleet will be consolidated onto one site. We will reorganize public catering, particularly the restaurant, taking into account the public's wishes regarding cultural leisure. The Department of Ideological Work, Culture, and Youth Affairs of the district executive committee is also called upon to assist. The matter is slowly moving forward,” states the chairman of the district executive committee.
And when he is told that there is a lot of "external" trade in the district, Sergey Richardovich replies by recounting how the enterprise "Postavyfurniture" had nine private competitors, and they still managed to win in the market.
There will be no revolution
Sergey Zemchenok did not look for any special specialists for the "Postavyfurniture" enterprise. He became convinced that it is possible to work with everyone in the Liozno district, and there are no grounds for a personnel revolution: "So far, only the director of the enterprise UKPBO "Dabrabyt" has been replaced. There is a good base here: a workshop for sewing uppers for SOOO "Marko", a laundry – there are conditions not just to stay afloat, but to make a profit. But I come and see – the sewing production is idle: they were waiting for an order. This is a failure of the manager. One must worry in advance to organize uninterrupted and efficient work. Now the production is loaded, there is a preliminary agreement for the next batch of raw materials, and the issue of working in one and a half shifts is being considered, as at our own Liozno enterprise for sewing underwear and clothing Mark Formelle. I have no doubt that things will move forward at "Dabrabyt".
Seeing the pain points of agricultural enterprises, I cannot say that our people work worse than in other regions. The problem is with the provision of labor resources. Over the year, the number of workers in the district's agriculture has decreased by a hundred, despite an already significant shortage. We analyzed what can be done to counteract the outflow of personnel.
It is necessary to increase the productivity of dairy production, because last year was unfavorable, and it decreased. The worst situation is in the agricultural enterprises "Krynki", "Rubyezhnitsa", "Novaya Dubrava-Agro" and partly in the district agroservice, where they were unable to pay wages on time solely from dairy production. Now that the grain has come in, we managed to do without advancing payments to the dairy plant for the first month – July.
I realized that despite all the difficulties, we cannot leave our largest agricultural enterprise "Rubyezhnitsa", which employs about 200 people, without help, but 20 machine operators have quit over the year. Literally every day, the agriculture and food department of the district executive committee and I monitor the situation.
When the agreement on opening a "Santa" store in Liozno was concluded, its management promised that after the building was constructed, the district would receive a gift of 40 thousand rubles. This is what happened. There were proposals to spend them on improving the urban settlement. I, as they say, slept on these proposals and came to a different conclusion. After thorough preparation for the regional festival-fair of rural workers "Dazhynki-2011", Liozno is still a beautiful district center, there are more important problems. The harvest was approaching, and the equipment at "Rubyezhnitsa" was worn out – so we asked the management of "Santa Retail" for sponsorship to purchase spare parts for this agricultural enterprise. It was able to prepare for the harvest and is not lagging behind the district averages. Recently, milk yields have also been increasing there. And next year, we plan to complete the unfinished dairy complex, as funding for the work was stopped.
Investors are not all the same
Judging by the figures, things are going well in terms of investment policy in the Liozno region. For example, a wind farm has recently been built. However, the new chairman of the district executive committee is not entirely satisfied. He would like to attract investments to the district that would increase the number of high-paying jobs. For now, businessmen are focused on the low local average wage.
"A businessman from Iran recently visited us. To develop sheep farming, he is asking for premises for livestock and 2,000 hectares of pasture for his project. We are offering a location in the village of Yashkovshchina. This is the edge of the agricultural enterprise 'Rubezhnitsa', which has merged several farms. Servicing the outlying lands on our own is costly, and the soil for grain crops is low-grade, but it is most suitable for fodder production and pastures. There is an asphalt road, three cow barns with milking parlors, although they are abandoned due to a shortage of workers. There are quite solid structures of one- and two-story houses that can be repaired and occupied. If the investor is willing to do this, we will not stand aside, we will help him, and there will be people willing to live and work here. And throughout the district, we need to put in order suitable but vacant houses. And in Liozno, we are actively building a 40-apartment building and planning another one for next year.
I also have ideas for the Liozno processing unit of OJSC "Moloko" in Vitebsk. The experience of cheesemakers from Postavy and Brest shows that the deeper the milk processing, the richer the enterprise becomes. Our unit is undergoing reconstruction, and then it would be worthwhile to establish the production of mold cheese. For this, we need a small, separate, specially equipped workshop like this.
Considerable funds are required to repair the water supply and sewage systems, which are being transferred to the jurisdiction of Vitebskvodokanal. For now, we have agreed on the planned works for the first stage – we will eliminate leaks.
In short, everything in the district economy is more or less clear. To stimulate local initiative, I held an idea day for everyone interested. The result is not impressive yet, but we will maintain our fighting spirit to solve all the problems that have accumulated," notes Sergey Zemchenok.