My native town (Soligorsk)
Hi my name is Alex Tyurin (Speaker). I want to tell some words about Soligorsk. I live in the town of Soligorsk. I like my native town, because I was born here, live and study (school #4) in it. Soligorsk is situated to the south of Minsk. It is not far from the capital of our republic. You can get there in 3 hours by bus. Ifs history roots back to the year 1949 when the Starobin potash ore deposits were discovered here. But the town itself was founded only in 1958. It was called Soligorsk. A favourable geographical position, manpower availability predetermined a rapid growth of the town and very soon it became a very important industrial town and a chemical centre of Belarus. It is the town of miners. They mine potash fertilisers, rock-salt and magnesium salt. The deposits of potash fertilisers is one of the largest in Western Europe. There are 4 integrated plants not far from our town. Their products are used not only in our republic, but also go to different countries of the world, for example , to the USA, the Brazil, Austria, Sweden and others. Roughly in Soligorsk they produce more than 20 % of the share in the world production and about 40 % of fertilisers are exported. So, as I have said the production of the firm "Belaruskali" is famous far beyond the borders of the republic. Present-day Soligorsk is one of the industrial centres of our republic. There are several factories in it. The products of the Soligorsk knitted-goods factory, fur-clothes factory, of the house-building plant are well-known in our republic and abroad. Besides, there is a ferro-concrete structures plant, a parts plant, a mechanical bakery, a milk plant and some others. Soligorsk is not a large town. Its population is over 100.000 people. But though there are some factories and plants in Soligorsk it is problematic for people to get jobs. The problem is especially urgent for women and young people. In some ways mv town is a cultural centre of the district. It is a town of young people and there are 40 kindergartens and creches, 12 secondary schools, 3 vocational schools and a technical school of miners, an art school, a musical school and the children's art centre. At people's disposal there are shops, cafes and restaurants, hotels, cinemas and a Palace of Culture of miners where you can attend a concerts or a performance, some libraries for grown up and children, stadiums, sporting grounds and installations, fashion ateliers and consumers service house, polyclinics, hospitals and after-work preventoriums. Ifs interesting to know that in 1989 the first in the republic underground spelio-clinic had its first patients. There are numerous department stores, 2 markets and a number of smaller shops in the town. Like all other towns Soligorsk has its own centre. It is Lenin-square. Here we can see the monument to Lenin, the work of the famous Belorussian People's artist Bembel and opposite to it on the other side of the square there is the Town Soviet and a Palace of Culture where the citizens of Soligorsk like to rest. Not far from there you can seethe building of a new and comfortable hotel, the central department store, the best cinema in the town "Zorka Venera" and the 22 storied building of the firm "Belaruskali" office. he houses in Soligorsk are many-storied, many of them are of modern design and structure, the streets are wide and tree-lined with many flower-beds along. There are not many museums in our town but expositions in our museum of local history are rich and interesting. My native town is situated on the river Slutch. The place is very picturesque. The landscape in this part of our republic is very beautiful. A wonderful pine forest stretches very far. There re a lot of mushrooms and berries there. The forest and the river are favourite places for rest and relaxing and spending free time among the Soligorsk people in all seasons. They swim in the river and get sunburnt on its banks in summer, skate and play hockey in winter, fish all the year round and go boating in warm weather. As for the forest it is a nice place not only picking berries and gathering mushrooms but to go in for sports and walks in all seasons. It's a pity but like other towns and cities Soligorsk has many problems of its own. Some of them are : the problem of unemployment, the problems of the street crime and gang-violence and robbery, the problems of the young people such as relationship between them and their parents and older generation on the whole, the problem of earning their own money and spending free time and some others. But to my mind the most important and urgent problem of all Soligorsk people is the ecological problem. Unfortunately the factories of our town are of great harm to our environment polluting land, air and water, he mountains of potash fertilisers waste that are situated not far from the town and salty dust of potash fertilisers' waste stocks are carried out by the wind for a long distance, worsening the ecological situation of the town of Soligorsk and nearest countryside. The health and the lives of the Soligorsk people and nature around it are put in a dangerous position. The head of the firm " Belaruskali" are not always able to improve the situation. Of course some measures are being taken in order to correct the situation. It is decided to build up a new system of water purification, to leave the potash ores' waste in mines and not to stock it on the surface and some other optimal and efficient measures. But I hope that all the negative problems of our town will be solved in the nearest future and the town of Soligorsk will be the most pleasant place to live in and to visit, because as they say : "there is no place like home".