Andrei Makarov assessed the risks of developing anchor settlements

The expert noted that «the mechanism can be viewed as a measure to support medium and small towns in order to keep the population there and increase funding for infrastructure, including social infrastructure, which could also be used by residents of other nearby settlements.

At the same time, Andrei Makarov assessed the risks of the country’s spatial development strategy. " Firstly, the list of anchor settlements (2160 names) includes some relatively large and economically prosperous cities, so the list is not focused on the development of new promising points of growth. Secondly, if federal, as well as regional support is offered specifically for the strongholds, it may lead to even greater lagging behind other settlements not included in the list, while citizens, regardless of their place of residence, should have equal rights to access to social infrastructure and other public services. In addition, excessive funding of anchor settlements, special policy measures for them, may entail additional issues, such as soft budget constraints and reduced efficiency in spending public funds (e.g., excessive spending on landscaping), overdevelopment in the implementation of construction projects, environmental degradation as part of the development of industrial production, etc. Thus, it is important that the development plans for anchor settlements should be adopted on the basis of the principles of local self-government and public discussion and control, while the development of, for example, the social infrastructure of such cities should not occur at the expense of degradation of the social infrastructure of ordinary settlements", said the expert.