OREANDA-NEWS. March 20, 2008. In 2008, Br625.3 billion will be allocated from the national budget to address the Chernobyl problems, Emergencies Minister of Belarus Enver Bariev said at a session of the Council of Ministers Presidium on March 19. The session focused on the implementation of the Chernobyl programme 2006-2010. According to the minister, Br107.5 billion will be assigned in 2008 to finance the construction of water supply networks, housing for the specialists who have come to work in education, health care institutions and agriculture organisations and also the accommodation for disabled people whose disability is associated with the Chernobyl, construction of children’s medicinal establishments and extending gas supply networks.

Br130.3 billion will be spent on protective measures in agriculture and forestry, radiation protection of the people working in the contaminated areas, purchase of mineral fertilizers, lime treatment of acid soil, redeployment of companies located in the contaminated territories. Br21.8 billion will be injected into the measures to improve municipal and medical services in the affected regions.

Br1.3 billion will be used to finance the special regime of resettled areas and to prevent unauthorized activity in the regions contaminated with radionuclides. Br8.3 billion will be put into decontamination of socially important facilities and other rehabilitation measures. Br4.9 billion will be funneled into research in radiation protection of the population.

In 2007, the country utilised Br632.8 billion to address the Chernobyl problems, Br516.6 billion was subventions transferred to the oblast budget. Enver Bariev said there is a need to increase the responsibility of all executors of the Chernobyl programme. “It is not always that we respond promptly to a situation. We have the potential to increase the efficiency of the work in mitigating the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster,” the minister said.