Prestigious weekly-magazine ranking: governments of Vilnius Region standing high

2013-10-07, 18:09

Published in Politics

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email
Add new comment

Rate this item

(0 votes)

The prestigious weekly-magazine 'Veidas' has analysed the quality of life in Lithuanian cities and districts for the seventh time. According to the data obtained a rating was created in which all the sixty Lithuanian governments were placed on the basis of the scores awarded. The quality of life was assessed according to 25 criteria, e.g. change in population (5 points), number of active enterprises (15 points), amount of support of the European Union per one inhabitant (5 points), percentage of renovated schools (5 points), the incidence of illnesses of population (5 points), government debt (5 points), number of pensioners per 1 thousand inhabitants (7 points). The governments of Vilnius Region performed really well this time.

Government of the Vilnius District in the top ten
The Government of the Vilnius District ranks ninth in the rating. It has improved by 6 places. The Vilnius District Government is on the fourth place among 48 rural governments (after Klaipėda, Kaunas and Mažeikiai districts).
Top rated criteria
The Vilnius District Government gained most points for the increase in the average wage, number of active enterprises, relatively small number of pensioners, the smallest government debt, an impressive number of newly built flats and houses, low price of cold water, number of renovated schools, low incidence of population illnesses, number of libraries (the most among all sixty governments).
Young stay in districts
The Vilnius District Government obtained high scores for good demographic rating and comparatively small number of pensioners per one thousand inhabitants. In the times when all the country and particular Lithuanian governments are facing the problem of demographic decline, the Government of Vilnius District has noted the increase in the number of inhabitants by 6,2% in the period from 2001 to 2011. When speaking about the number of pensioners per one thousand inhabitants, the Government of Vilnius District received the maximum score of 7 points and was assigned to the group of prospective governments.
It means that young people, seeing prospects for future life in Vilnius District do not emigrate to other governments or abroad, what seems to be an acute problem of all the other governments.
Rise of average wage
The Government of Vilnius District was highly rated for the rise of average wage – the Government received 15,02 points out of 17. Average wage has risen by 12,5% in the Government of Vilnius District when comparing with 2012. That places the Government on the top among other governments, while lower wages are recorded in 54 governments of the state (both rural and urban).

More employed people, more well-off families
The amount of unemployed people has decreased by 2% in the Government of Vilnius District during the period of one year. Moreover, it has to be noted that the amount of active enterprises has increased, i.e. there were 1570 enterprises in 2012 and even 1797 in 2013. Small and medium-sized enterprises that create new jobs in the district can benefit from tax abatement since 2010 when a resolution was adopted by the Council of the Government of Vilnius district.
There are more well-off families in the Government and it is reflected by the fact that the number of the free fed pupils (per one thousand pupils) has decreased from 222,1 (2012) to 192,2 (2013). To present the situation in a clearer way: there are 244,4 free fed pupils (per one thousand) in Mažeikiai district (which can be found on the 7th place of the rating), in Šilalė – 413,2, in Ignalina – 340,7.
The situation of the Government of Vilnius District is also very good when speaking about the number of people receiving benefits – the Government received 12,5 points out of 15. The number of people receiving compensation for heating has decreased by 40% in one year. In order to lower the heating prices for all the inhabitants, the Government of Vilnius District, as the only one in Lithuania, pays subsidies to the suppliers of heating. As a result, inhabitants of the district pay for heating less than average costs for heating. 5 million litas yearly are allocated by government for this purpose.
Educational investments: taking care of the region future
A continuous increase in the percentage of renovated schools is recorder in Vilnius district. Even 43,4% of educational institutions were renovated in 2013 (in 2012 – 39,6%). This indicator is even better in Vilnius district than in the capital, where 34,8% schools were renovated.
Recently, the building of the secondary school of Algirdas the Grand Duke of Lithuania (Maišiagala) was finalised. Significant amounts were purposed for renovation works of the Gymnasium of K. Parczewski in Nemenčinė and the Secondary School of the Priest Pralate J. Obrembski in Maišiagala. One of the largest recent investments is also the renovation of the Secondary School of Saint John Bosko in Egliškės. Renovation works were also started in the Gymnasium in Avižieniai and Gymnasium in Pagiriai.
In the interview with L24.lt the Mayour of Vilnius District Government Marija Rekst did not hide her satisfaction about the recent finalisation of the kindergarten in Avižieniai.

'We are very happy about this investment. There will be four groups (two Polish and two Lithuanian) in this spacious, modern kindergarten,' the Mayor said.
The Government of Vilnius District has built three new kindergartens in the previous years, i.e. in Mickūnai, in Rudamina and in Lavariškės. It has to be noted, that four new kindergartens are an absolute record among Lithuanian governments, which cannot be proud of such attainments. It also has to be underlined that during that time the Government of Vilnius district has also renovated or repaired more than ten existing kindergartens.
Reasonable financial management, active EU support search
As the authors of the ranking stress, the Administration of the Government of Vilnius District has managed to increase considerably the rate of direct foreign investments per one inhabitant in one year; it has risen from 4295 LTL (in 2012) to 6350 LTL (in 2013). The rate of the EU support per one inhabitant has also risen from 557,1 LTL (in 2012) to 625 LTL in 2013.
The Government has gained a lot of points for reasonable financial management – it can be proud of the smallest debt. The Government did not have any debt until recently, but took out a loan in order to realize investment projects and purchase utility networks and roads in Rudamina for their modernization. Despite the smallest debt, the Government of Vilnius District realized lost of investment projects, actively searched for EU support and took action aimed at the improvement of residents' well-being.
5 projects (for more than 4 million litas) were finalised in Vilnius District in 2012. Today, the Administration of the Government works on 25 projects, the total value of which amount to 25 million litas.
The fact that despite the general rise of prices the Government managed to keep the price for cold water at the same level was also noted. The secret lies in the grants paid by the Government of Vilnius District (as the only one in Lithuania). The District is also becoming more and more secure place for living as the crime rate decreased during the year.

The Government of Šalčininkai District – stable position in the middle
The Government of Šalčininkai District stays stable in the middle of the table (45th place, one place lower than in 2012). Despite going one place down, the Government has gained more point than last year.
The Governemnt of Šalčininkai District singles out for impressive rates of EU support obtaining. In comparison to 2012, the level of EU support per one inhabitant of Šalčininkai District has risen by 24,81% and reached 1923 LTL (2013). In this regard Šalčininkai District outpaces other districts form the top five (including Vilnius – 961 LTL).
16 projects were finalised in 2012. The projects included, inter alia, the renovation of the District infrastructure. Currently, another 19 projects (for the total amount of 53 million litas, 41,6 million of which are the EU support) are being implemented.
The rate of foreign investments per one inhabitant has risen impressively, i.e. from 45 LTL in 2012 to 113 LTL in 2013.
The decline in unemployment by 0,9 % during one year was noted in Šalčininkai District while it was only 0,5% in Vilnius – the leader of the rating.
The growth rate of the average wage in the District was on the similar level as in other districts and reached 1407 LTL in 2013 (1253 LTL in 2012).
During the year, the District managed to avoid the growth of the price for cold water which appears to be the lowest (4,14 LTL/1 m³) among all the sixty districts. The crime rate in Šalčininkai District has also dropped.
The data and the examples presented clearly show that the governments of the Vilnius Regions have good or very good indicators of their development and Vilnius District is the most dynamically developing rural government in Lithuania. Facing all this information, the lies about the Vilnius Region told by the representatives of the conservative party (among others by the former Prime Minister A. Kubilius and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs A. Ažubalis) burst like a soap bubble.
Beata Nanevič

Add comment

JComments