Translated material
Looking forward 20 years
A new global project for the development of the Urals will be presented at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum
At the end of this week, without exaggeration, the whole country will gather in St. Petersburg, where the St. Petersburg Economic Forum will be held. President Vladimir Putin, almost all federal ministers, economists and businessmen from all over the world will take part in the forum. The event promises to become one of the main events in the economic life of the country. Moreover, the main topic of the forum is a look at the future of the country. The key plenary session of the forum will be called “Russia. Scenario 2020." The organizers of the forum plan to launch a discussion about possible ways of development of the country. We will not talk about oil price forecasts or the prospects for the upcoming elections. Forum participants will try to simulate various socio-economic models of the country's development.One of the main promises should be the modernization of the domestic economy. The forum will include an exhibition of investment projects, thanks to which a radical modernization of the economy is possible. In addition, within the framework of the forum, a regular meeting of the Investment Commission will be held to select projects for financing from the investment fund.
The largest Russian investment project “Ural Industrial - Ural Polar” will be presented to the forum participants.
According to Agvan Mikaelyan, Deputy General Director of the Finexpertiza company, this project is comparable in scale to the Baikal-Amur Mainline. “In a good way, this is an example of how to most optimally manage the funds of an investment fund. The implementation of the project will provide not only an economic, but also a huge social effect through the construction of mining enterprises and the creation of new jobs.”
According to project experts, the development of the Subpolar and Polar Urals will give impetus to the development of the Russian economy for about two hundred years to come. The fact is that in the region, which provides 45% of ferrous metallurgy, 40% of non-ferrous and 35% of domestic mechanical engineering, raw material reserves are on the verge of complete exhaustion. Already, more than half of the raw materials consumed by Ural enterprises have to be transported from places 2, or even 3 thousand kilometers away.
Moreover, a significant part of the raw materials is imported from foreign countries. For example, more than 20 million tons of coal are imported from Kazakhstan annually, and more than 10 million tons of iron ore are imported from the same Kazakhstan and Ukraine. From 70 to 100% of the needs for manganese, chromium and copper concentrate are covered by supplies from Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine and Mongolia. This puts the defense industry in a vulnerable position of dependence on foreign supplies. And the entire economy is dependent on sharp fluctuations in world prices. World prices for iron ore, for example, have almost tripled since 1999. In addition, these deliveries create a large load on the railway. Every year, about 300 thousand cars are used for these purposes, traveling several thousand kilometers in one direction only.
The project involves the construction of two railways - to the Yamal Peninsula and Salekhard-Nadym with a total length of 1250 km. Thanks to this, the way opens to the exploitation of 36 billion tons of coal, 60 billion tons of iron ore, 1.5 billion tons of manganese ores, 1.1 billion tons of bauxite, as well as huge hydrocarbon reserves: 1.4 billion tons of oil, 225 billion cubic meters of gas and 2 million tons of condensate. At the same time, the total value of solid minerals that can be involved in economic turnover as a result of the development of these territories, according to estimates by the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is about $290 billion.
The direct economic effect from reducing the routes for delivering raw materials to the industrial centers of the Southern Urals could amount to about 4 trillion rubles, and another 4.5 trillion should be brought by the transition to domestic raw materials. At the same time, investments in the project will amount to only 350 billion rubles. It is planned to raise only one-fifth of all costs through the investment fund. Regional budgets are ready to give approximately the same amount, and private businesses will invest the rest of the money. More than 20 companies have already shown interest in the project. It is planned that the return of budget funds will occur six years after the start of the project. And the total income of budgets of all levels during the period of operation of new fields will amount to over 40 trillion rubles.
According to Oleg Voitenko, director of TsSR-Region, the project is interesting not only for the possibilities of developing a region rich in raw materials, but also for its social effect. The project will help solve transport issues, create high-paying jobs, and attract qualified specialists to the region.
Thus, the St. Petersburg Forum will become not only a place for discussing global ideas for economic development for decades to come, but also a platform for very specific projects that can radically change the economic situation in Russia and attract investors to the regions.