PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will build about 50 million square meters of housing this year, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with a Russian TV channel Sunday.

Russia has inherited outdated housing and utility sectors from the Soviet Union and needs to increase construction volumes considerably to provide Russian households with affordable and comfortable housing.

"This year, despite all difficulties, we'll be able to achieve the planned construction volumes of about 50 million square meters of housing," Medvedev told NTV television channel. "This is the amount we planned for this year, considering the task to bring up the volume of housing construction to the level of 80 million square meters a year by 2010. This volume will enable us to solve the housing problem."

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov earlier said the financing of the national project on the construction of affordable housing would be increased more than 30% in 2007.