In Avtograd, the memory of the first secretary of the Naberezhnye Chelny City Party Committee Rais Belyaev was honored. Early builders, City Council deputies, and residents of the city came to lay flowers at the monument to the legendary leader in the GES settlement. The Mayor of the city Nail Magdeev took part in the solemn event.
Those gathered at the monument recalled the achievements of the talented administrator. Rais Belyaev led the city during a difficult period when the first and second stages of KAMAZ and the Nizhnekamsk HPP were commissioned. During these years, more than four million square meters of housing were commissioned in Naberezhnye Chelny, nearly 40 schools and about 50 kindergartens were built, as well as the Emergency Hospital, a medical town, and a large number of retail, catering, public service, social and cultural facilities, and food and processing industry enterprises.
"The fate of a small town on the Kama was predetermined by a grand construction project that turned it into an industrial center of the country. More than 50 years ago, the construction of the world's largest automobile plant and a modern city began here. Many of those who built these facilities in unprecedentedly short time have forever entered the annals of the city as people who demonstrated the highest examples of labor valor, – noted Nail Magdeev. – We do not forget the veterans of the city's construction, continue their glorious traditions, and believe that the people of Chelny will never forget those who were able to build such a beautiful city in an open field in a short time. Our task is to make it even more beautiful and comfortable".