Ecology is key priority in Norilsk complex development plan
TASS, December 15. Ecology aspects are the key priority in implementation of Norilsk’s complex development plan, approved by the government, the State Duma’s first deputy chairman of the natural resources and environment committee, Vladimir Burmatov, told TASS on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Russian government adopted a complex plan for Norilsk’s social and economic development to 2035, under which the city will have more than 70 new apartment houses, residents from 40 outdated houses will receive new flats, and 1,860 families will receive money to buy new housing.
“The plan is complex,” the legislator said. “On one hand, it is about the development of the city’s infrastructures, about the renovation, the city upgrade. On the other hand, it contains a most important ecology aspect. This plan is not just about houses, buildings and roads. This plan is about people. The demand for quality of life is basic, and people also have such a demand regarding their children. The ecology is a key component of that plan.”
The plan’s implementation, he continued, is closely related to implementation of Nornickel’s Northern Project. The Northern Project is the biggest program to modernize the company’s industrial assets. By implementing the project Nornickel will cut Sulphur dioxide emissions in the Norilsk Industrial District. The investments are estimated at about 250 billion rubles ($3.4 billion).
In February, 2021, a four-party agreement on Norilsk’s social and economic development was inked by the Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic, Nornickel (the Norilsk Nickel Company), the Krasnoyarsk region’s government and Norilsk’s city administration. The document includes the plans to renovate the housing, to upgrade and improve the city’s infrastructures, to build, renovate and develop social infrastructures, to form comfortable and safe urban space, and also to move people from Norilsk and Dudinka to regions with better conditions.
The total investments in the city’s development to 2024 and further on to 2035 make 120.1 billion rubles ($1.6 billion), where 81.3 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) will come from Nornickel.
Norilsk is one of the northernmost cities in the world. It is home to 180,000 people, 26% of whom are employed with the Norilsk Nickel Company. Mass construction in Norilsk was in the 1940s-1950s and in the 1960s-1990s. Presently, the city does not have new construction projects. Nornickel announced earlier, about 100 new apartment houses of 400,000 square meters would be built in the city before 2035.
This article was originally found on the TASS website
