Oleg Valenchuk's road program: 500 kilometers for gardeners!

      Thanks to the Road Program of the Chairman of the Union of Gardeners of Russia and State Duma deputy Oleg Valenchuk, which has been operating in the region for 15 years, the situation with the roads leading to the cherished six-hundred-square-meter plots has radically changed.

      “We have been taking part in the program for several years now and can feel the difference—how the road changes after grading,” says the chairwoman of SNT “Cheremushki,” Tatyana Pereskokova. “We share a road with SNT ‘Urozhay 4.’ In total there are 500 plots. And all the gardeners are satisfied—the work is not done just for show, but properly. Many thanks to the Union of Gardeners for this help!”

      By the end of September the work had been completed in all gardeners’ non-commercial partnerships whose chairmen submitted applications to the Union of Gardeners of Russia. More than 500 kilometers of roads to the SNTs have been put in order. The program covered around 45,000 plots and almost 200,000 people.

      In some SNTs serious road repairs were required. Many gardeners there showed initiative and a collective spirit: they brought crushed stone, gravel and sand themselves, while the Union of Gardeners provided the necessary machinery. This approach made it possible to radically address the problem of potholes and ruts.

      “There are a lot of us, and we are all very close-knit,” says Elena Rusinova, chairwoman of SNT “Zolotaya Osen’.” “Every year we jointly buy crushed stone, improve the recreation area by the pond, hold a harvest festival—this all strengthens our friendship and helps us effectively solve common problems.”

      To check how the machinery works, during a trip to “Zolotaya Osen’” Oleg Valenchuk himself sat at the grader’s controls, recalling his student tractor-driving skills gained at the Kirov Pedagogical Institute. “Work placement was compulsory for us back then,” Oleg Valenchuk recalls. “And the skill of driving a tractor is like riding a bicycle. Once you learn it, you’ve got it for life.”

      The program is not limited to the current year. The Union of Gardeners of Russia plans to continue the work. Applications from the chairmen of gardening partnerships for grading will, as usual, be accepted from the beginning of March so that, weather permitting, the next season can begin in May.