MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax-AVN) - Due to delays in construction of chemical weapons elimination facilities in the town of Shchuchye, Kurgan region, Russia has to adjust terms and scale of construction in regards to other objects in order to fulfill its obligations, director general of the Russian Munitions Agency Zinovy Pak told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday. Pak has just arrived in Moscow after a working visit to the Udmurtian autonomous republic. Two arsenals of chemical munitions are situated in the republic; one is located in the village of Kambarka where 6,349 tonnes of lewisite are stored, and the other in the village of Kizner where 5,744 tonnes of V-X gases, Sarin, Soman and lewisite are stored. The two sites account for some 30 % of Russia's total chemical munitions stock. "Due to delays in implementing the first stage of construction in the town of Shchuchye, we have to begin designing chemical munitions elimination facilities in Kambarka this year," Pak said. He added that the beginning of the construction had been scheduled for 2003; the first stage of the construction is to be completed in 2004. The munitions stored in the locality are to be fully eliminated by the year 2007. The visit of the director of the agency provided for a meeting with Udmurtian President Alexander Volkov and Prime Minister Yury Pitkevich where social problems and safety requirements were discussed. A gas pipeline, its overall length mounting up to 39.4 kilometers, is now being constructed for inhabitants of Kambarka, 31 kilometers pipeline tubes already laid. A diagnostic center fitted with Sweden-made equipment has been set up at the local hospital for systematic monitoring health state of the local population. In addition to that, accommodation facilities housing 96 people have been built in the locality. A modern hospital for 35 stationary patients and a policlinic have been set up for the inhabitants of Kizner; construction of accommodation facilities, work on improving gas piping and reconstruction of the local water pipes is under way now. Pak said that the local authorities were doing their best to shape a positive attitude of the population towards eliminating chemical munitions; importance of environmental safety and protection of local population is highlighted, too. Pak informed the Udmurtian government of the principal aspects of the Federal purpose-oriented program of eliminating chemical munitions in the Russian Federation. Pak said that the first section of the object in the locality of Gorny, Saratov region, was to be commissioned in the third quarter of the current year. Experts engaged in eliminating the munitions are soon to get the facilities of the objects for their adjustment. During his visit to Udmurtia Pak checked reliability of protection systems and efficiency of detachments concerned with protection of the chemical stocks.