A cutting edge potash fertilizer plant will soon be built in the Volgograd Region, in the midst of a newly developed area including residential buildings and an ideal infrastructure. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who inspected the project site on July 15, rebuked construction officials for their lack of effort in encouraging other similar projects. The ensuing changes are bound to make developers' lives easier.
Also in Volgograd, Putin met with Vasily Krima, a local "Afro-Russian" who is starting his career in politics. A native of Guinea-Bissau, he came to Russia to study at the university, married here and after graduation settled down in Russia.
The area where the Gremyachinskoye potassium salt deposit is located was covered in water some 350 million years ago. Now the place has turned into a desert: recent heat waves have dried up all living things in the area. However, EuroChem head Dmitry Strezhnev has vowed to build a prospering oasis there in 2013. The bed of the former sea has been found to hold abundant deposits of potassium salts, and the company is building mining and enrichment facilities there.
At this point the planned town of Kotelnikovo only exists as a mock-up. A sickly lawn and an arrangement of faded petunias representing the Russian tricolor in front of the future main mine building are the only signs suggesting the place will turn into a blooming oasis some day.
To make things worse, the helicopter that brought Vladimir Putin to the construction site raised enormous clouds of dust and sand, and it took local workers about 20 minutes to water down the mess.
"This mine is for workers and equipment, 1,100 metres deep, a kind of a skyscraper turned upside down," Strezhnev explained to the prime minister as he was giving Putin a tour of the development. "It will have a huge lift which will move up and down at 12 meters per second.
The prime minister nodded his approval. He had visited such mines before and even descended into some. Strezhnev kept talking, giving his charge more and more facts. The mine is being built with an innovative technology which involves concrete hardening instead of the traditional freezing. This cuts both the time and cost of construction by 25%.
"We will be producing 15 million metric tons of fertiliser here by 2016, including 5 million tons of potash fertiliser and 10 million tons of nitrogen phosphoric fertiliser," he boasted.
A team of would-be miners waited for the prime minister in a temporary shelter put up near the construction site; Putin shook hands with each of them.
"Now, these guys are here to meet you..." Strezhnev said rather unnecessarily.
"Hi, have you dressed up for me?" Putin asked appreciating their brand-new overalls with printed logo and freshly polished white helmets.
The "guys" looked a little surprised, even more uncomfortable than before in their freshly ironed uniforms.
"No, Mr Putin, that's what we wear all the time," their foreman said in an attempt to ease the tension.
"What do you think of this project's future?"
"It's good here. The salaries are high."
"How high?"
"A shaft sinker makes around 65,700 roubles a month, but there's a problem. Most miners bring their families. We have jobs here but our wives don't."
"We have plans for them," the prime minister smiled.
He has just seen a mockup of the residential area to be built in Kotelnikov for the miners and their families. It will include kindergartens, schools, parks, playgrounds and hospitals. Strezhnev asked the federal government to provide 9.5 billion roubles ($315mn) to fulfill these plans.
"We will pay back this amount in two years in taxes and in new jobs," he assured the prime minister.
Putin said he would think about it and left for Volgograd to help resolve more construction problems. On his way to the city hall, he had a curious encounter. He met Vasily Krima (from Guinea-Bissau), who had run for head of the Srednyaya Akhtuba District in autumn 2009, nominated by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. The reason they met during Putin's visit to Volgograd was Krima's unusual wish to name a road newly repaired by local residents led by Vasily Krima in Srednyaya Akhtuba after the prime minister.
Putin appreciated the Afro-Russian's initiative to repair the worn-out and bumpy road and proceeded to the meeting of the government commission on regional development, which he showered with harsh criticism.
"It is time to stop looking for excuses and to stop treating territorial planning as an unnecessary extravagance," he said.
"We will prepare the necessary package of legislative amendments before the year is out. Plots of land will be awarded only by tender, with clearly stated exceptions, such as land for schools, hospitals and other public facilities, as well as major investment projects in industry. And we will reduce the number of required approvals for these investment projects, which currently runs into the dozens," the prime minister added.
To simplify the procedures for the issue of construction permits and official approval, the processing time should be reduced to 60 days, down from 90. Moreover, the developer will be given an opportunity to improve the project as suggested by the authorised expert before the end of the official appraisal procedure.
As for connection to the electricity grid, this service should be provided to developers free of charge. Development of power grids should be financed by future power consumers, which is more logical.
Anastasia Savinykh
