Shallow water emergency

The delivery of fuel and food products to Yakutia is in jeopardy due to the shallowing of the Lena River

The President of Yakutia, Vyacheslav Shtyrov, on Wednesday introduced a state of emergency in the republic. This decision was made due to the catastrophic situation with the delivery of goods to the republic. The culprit is the shallow waters in the upper reaches of the Lena, from where the bulk of material and technical resources, fuel and food products enter the region.

The lack of rain has led to the fact that the once deep river has become unnavigable. As a result, according to the Chairman of the Government of Yakutia, Yegor Borisov, only 240 thousand tons of the planned 980 thousand tons of petroleum products were delivered to the republic.

By decree of the President of the Republic, emergency measures were introduced to extract the necessary fuel from the Talakanskoye field. Let us remind you that the license to develop the field has not yet found an owner, but, apparently, the weather will help sort out this difficult issue in the near future. The head of Yakutia obliged the heads of the joint-stock companies Sakhaneftegaz and Lenaneftegaz, which carry out temporary use of subsoil at the Talakanskoye field, until the completion of the technical registration of licensing documents by the Ministry of Natural Resources, to take all necessary measures to continue oil production and ensure its shipment for the needs of the republic. The government of Yakutia must organize the work of executive authorities and economic entities of the republic to timely provide fuel and energy resources to the needs of the national economy in an emergency situation. OJSC "LORP" was ordered to ensure timely supply of the oil tanker fleet to the pier of the Vitim village and delivery of oil boiler fuel to consumers in Yakutia.

However, even if it is possible to heat the uluses this winter with Yakut “golden” fuel, the problem of providing the population with the necessary food is unlikely to be solved. If, due to the shallow waters of the Lena, it is not possible to organize river transport, then it is completely unclear how food will be delivered to remote areas. The fact is that getting from one settlement to another in Yakutia is quite difficult, since the roads are in terrible condition, and air travel is too expensive. Meanwhile, weather forecasters do not promise that the situation on the Lena will change over the next month. So, most likely, in the time remaining before the cold weather, local authorities will not be able to establish the previous mode of cargo delivery. Let us recall that during the catastrophic flood on the Lena in 2001, when a large amount of building materials was required, it was not possible to organize its competent and, most importantly, timely delivery. Apparently, the authorities of Yakutia hope that the state of emergency will not only mobilize the resources of all enterprises and organizations of the republic to solve the problem, but also achieve federal financial support.

Maxim GLADKY, Khabarovsk