#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Nornickel’s contribution to the renovation of Norilsk can be considered a model example of business involvement in solving the problems of Arctic core cities. This example should be replicated in all core cities of the Russian Arctic. This was stated at a meeting in the Federation Council at a thematic meeting on the development of the Far East, the Arctic and Antarctica. The practice is also an example of a responsible attitude of business to a key region of presence, kislorod.life writes.
About 70 percent of the total population of this macroregion lives in 16 settlements of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation – 1.6 million people – one percent of the country’s population. One eighth – in the Norilsk Industrial Region (NIR) alone. According to Alexey Chekunkov, head of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East, this one percent provides 20 percent of Russian exports and is a critically important resource for the implementation of investment projects worth 35 trillion rubles.
“The Arctic still feeds Russia today and will remain the economic engine of the country’s development for decades to come”, Alexey Chekunkov noted.
Master plans have already been developed in all 16 support points. The main pain points are: quality of healthcare, developed infrastructure, housing, transport accessibility, ecology, culture, sports, leisure, public spaces, and improvement. The total weight of all activities declared in the master plans exceeds two trillion rubles. The Russian government has postponed the approval of the documents until the first quarter of 2025.
Chekunkov named the thawing of permafrost as the key problem for the development of support cities in the Arctic.
“In Norilsk, for example, they know very well that permafrost is not actually eternal. Our accumulated practical experience and dialogue with science do not give rosy forecasts – by 2050, permafrost soils in the Arctic may lose up to 60 percent of their bearing capacity. This is a systemic problem that requires comprehensive solutions – from monitoring and developing response measures to new construction technologies”, the minister said.
The cost of construction, which so far in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation clearly exceeds all standard limits for central Russia, also depends on such decisions.
Aleksey Chekunkov called the Norilsk renovation program, which has been implemented for three years already – as part of a comprehensive plan for the socio-economic development of the city until 2035, approved at the end of 2021 by the Russian government, a model for the development of core cities in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation. With a total planned investment of 120 billion rubles, the contribution of Nornickel alone exceeds 81 billion rubles, or 70 percent.
First vice president, head of the block of interaction with government at Nornickel Nikolay Utkin recalled that the company invests no less substantial amounts voluntarily, in addition to all approved plans, including in the construction of facilities that will radically change the appearance of the city.
“The development of the North is impossible only through the expansion of production without paying attention to the social component. This is our response to the modern demands of city residents – they need decent working and living conditions and not only residential and social, but also experience infrastructure”, Utkin said.
The company built the Aika sports and fitness complex in the city back in 2020 (it costs 3.6 billion rubles), last year – the Iceberg ice arena in Talnah (443 million rubles), and a 9-story building for invited specialists (one billion rubles).
“Currently, nine residential buildings are under construction in all districts of Norilsk. A new kindergarten was recently opened in Kayerkan after major repairs. The city’s landmark facilities are also at various stages of implementation: the public space Tower, the new campus of the N.M. Fedorovsky Polar State University, the Vladimir Dolgih lyceum, the Arctic museum of contemporary art AMMA, a new swimming pool, and more.
In addition to large-scale construction projects unseen in these latitudes since Soviet times, Nornickel is also investing in other areas that are important for the city: corporate medicine, which is available to all Norilsk residents, cleaning and landscaping of territories within the framework of the Clean Norilsk program, and the construction of gas stations.
The main environmental project is unique – the flagship Sulfur Program costing more than 200 billion rubles, the main part of the federal project Clean Air – will completely change the living conditions in the city.
This year, due to the two technological lines of the sulfur dioxide utilization complex operating at the Nadezhda metallurgical plant, the total emissions from the enterprise will decrease by 377 thousand tons – this is 23 percent of the baseline 2017 figures. And by the end of next year, when the complex reaches its design parameters, – by more than 734 thousand tons.
“Nornickel’s contribution is a precedent in terms of the scale of industrial companies’ participation in the renewal of the urban environment. In fact, through joint efforts with a new city with a new face is being created now, – summed up Nikolay Utkin. – This is a complex but solvable task of federal significance – to make the core cities attractive and not inferior in quality of life to the cities on the mainland”.
Among other things, the top manager of Nornickel said that the company recreated permafrost monitoring in the NIR at a new technological level.
More than a thousand objects are already connected to the system for monitoring the condition of the buildings and structures’ foundations located on permafrost soils, in the future their number will increase to 1.5 thousand.
“We conduct analysis in real time using advanced automated monitoring tools and a specialized IT platform”, Utkin noted.
Taking into account the relevance of the problem for the entire Russian Arctic, the system can certainly prove interesting and useful in other regions of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation.
Alexey Chekunkov thanked Nornickel for its huge and advanced investments in the development of Norilsk, “the creation of new facilities that change the perception of the city, change the quality of life there.”
“Using the Nornickel’s example, we see how the company has seriously engaged in solving the problems of Norilsk, one of the key Arctic support cities. And how successfully the business solves the tasks set, participates in the development of the territory. This positive practice should be scaled up and taken into account when developing master plans for other support settlements”, summarized Galina Karelova, first deputy chairperson of the Federation Council Committee on Federal Structure, Regional Policy, Local Government and Northern Affairs.
Follow us on Telegram, VKontakte.
