An Official Turned The Whole Of Gomel Against Himself In A Couple Of Days Of Work
11- 18.05.2026, 7:45
- 12,586
A real record.
No sooner had Lukashenko's former aide to Gomel region Ruslan Parkhamovich moved into the barely cooled chair of the so-called mayor of Gomel, than he started - no, not for business, but for promises to improve the life of the city, writes "Salidarnasts".
- We will try to make it even more beautiful, more stable from the economic point of view and more comfortable for citizens, - said the official immediately after his appointment.
The most important tasks he sees are communal: roads and construction, as well as water supply.
And the first priority criterion Parhamovich called de-urbanization, which his patron often talks about. According to the head of the city executive committee, the 500-thousand-strong Homel should have satellite towns just like Minsk. Dobrush is just 30 kilometers away, and Vetka is even closer - only 20 kilometers, and they should be developed.
But there were no details about how the authorities plan to create conditions and make satellite towns attractive for living (although the former Minister of Architecture could offer a couple of ideas). And people were logically indignant. After all, since deurbanization is the process of city resettlement in small towns and rural areas, they are being asked to leave?
If the new so-called mayor, like his predecessor Vladimir Privalov, had been active on social networks, it would be possible to say that in a couple of days the citizens "stuffed his panama hat".
And we will remind what else the official kept silent about, grasping Lukashenko's ideas about deurbanization.
First of all, Homel is losing population even without outside help. If at the beginning of 2019 there were almost 537 thousand people in the regional center, at the beginning of 2026 - 499.9 thousand, that is, the regional center has already lost the status of half a million people.
By the way, in Vetka, where the official would like to redirect Homel residents - 8.5 thousand residents, and in Dobrusha - less than 18 thousand.
There are no large industries - and therefore, no jobs with decent wages - in the first district center at all. In Dobrusha, the town-forming paper factory and porcelain factory are looking for workers for salaries up to Br1200-1800 - it's doubtful that there are queues of those willing to work.
In other places, Belarusians share in social networks, there's almost no work, so it's the residents of the surrounding towns who go to Homel to work, not vice versa.
Added to that, Vetka will not be a garden city for at least a few decades. After all, the city is on the list of territories affected by the Chernobyl accident, and people were evicted from there for a long time. And for the reverse process it's not enough to build a music and choreography building for the local gymnasium or to move rehabilitation beds from the district hospital to the Central Regional Hospital "for the convenience of residents.
And one more thing, which the official preferred to forget: urging Belarusians to fulfill the "brilliant" plans and ideas of the authorities, it would be good to start with themselves. After all, if you literally realize Lukashenko's calls to work on their own land - the current mayor of Homel Parhamovich should return to his native Mahiliou, where there are probably no less unsolved problems than in Homel.
And if we extend "deurbanization" to the whole Lukashenko's vertical and offer officials to build summer houses and country residences not in Drozd, but in their native towns and villages (the head of the Ministry of Information Dmitry Zhuk - in Slutsk district, Natalia Kochanova - near Polotsk, Viktor Khrenin - near Novogrudok) - it is very possible that Minsk will be noticeably relieved, and the program of development of the regions will see real, not drawn in the reports.
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