Master plans for the development of key settlements in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation have been presented to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin at the International Arctic Forum, which is taking place in Murmansk. During the plenary session, which took place after the presentations, the head of state instructed to speed up the adoption of the schedule for the implementation of the Arctic master plans.
"I would like to draw the government's attention to the need to speed up the adoption of a timetable for the implementation of Arctic master plans and consider their financing. In particular, as I have already said, we need to provide for separate Arctic sections in our national projects, as well as launch a mechanism to involve businesses and strategic investors who work in the Arctic or want to work here in the implementation of master plans. We have also launched an All-Russian competition for projects to create a comfortable urban environment. The winners receive budgetary support. I propose to provide for a separate additional limit from the federal budget within the framework of the competition," said President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
Alexey Chekunkov, Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, delivered a report on the overall results of the creation of master plans for the support settlements of the Russian Arctic.
"Plans have been prepared for the development of 16 Arctic anchor settlements, which are home to more than 1.5 million people. Investments of 19 trillion rubles depend on this framework of settlements. A total of 35 trillion rubles are currently being invested in projects in the Arctic. Your most important decision was to extend the Far Eastern mortgage to the Arctic. In the first year of work, 12,000 families improved their living conditions. For example, in the Murmansk region, the only new house with 90 apartments was under construction. Today it is 50 thousand square meters, plus a thousand new apartments in Murmansk alone. In the first year of the program, new construction in the Arctic zone has increased," said Alexey Chekunkov.
Andrey Chibis, Governor of the Murmansk Region, reported to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin on the priority activities and projects within the framework of the development of the supporting agglomerations of the Murmansk Region and the support required for the development of the region's economy and improving the quality of life of northerners.
As the Governor of the Murmansk Region recalled, more than 70% of the region's population lives in the stronghold settlements of the Murmansk Region. Andrey Chibis separately focused on each agglomeration, focusing on solutions that require federal support.
"All this is necessary to improve the quality and comfort of life of residents of the main settlements, who themselves actively participated in the creation of master plans. About 11,000 Northerners and experts from various industries took part in surveys, focus groups, interviews and strategic sessions in various formats, who gave about 3,000 suggestions. That is, it was not done in the offices, but the people themselves understand how the region should develop in the next 10 years," stressed the head of the Murmansk region.
Thus, in the Murmansk agglomeration, as part of the developed master plans in the field of healthcare, it is planned to build a regional children's hospital and modernize an adult one. A separate topic for residents of Murmansk and surrounding areas is comfortable housing and landscaping – it requires the relocation of more than 4,000 people from the emergency fund and the construction of new housing, landscaping public areas.
"If we talk about the infrastructure in this agglomeration, then I would ask for three key solutions. One of them will be the implementation of measures to increase the carrying capacity of the Murmansk transport hub to 100 million tons. The following important points are ensuring the transfer of heat supply sources to natural gas, taking into account the decisions taken on gasification of the Murmansk region. It is necessary to implement a program to improve the reliability and development of the electric grid complex. And the last one is the overhaul of the Murmansk-Severomorsk R-21 Cola road, which is necessary, among other things, to ensure the operation of the Northern Fleet units," Andrei Chibis emphasized.
The master plan of the Murmansk agglomeration pays special attention to the renovation of existing and the creation of new socially significant facilities - the list includes educational, cultural and sports facilities.
Important events in the developed master plans of the Kirovsko-Apatitskaya and Monchegorskaya agglomerations are projects to create a federal center for winter sports training, develop a ski resort in Kirovsk, develop the Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as create a center for water sports and tourism in Monchegorsk.
"An important project in the Polar Dawns is a new nuclear power plant. The Kola NPP uses this in order to provide energy for all projects. In Monchegorsk, we are working with the Government of the Russian Federation, Rosatom and Norilsk Nickel to create deep processing of lithium in the country. The entire infrastructure has been prepared for this, and we also ask for your support," said Andrey Chibis.
The Governor of the Murmansk Region thanked the head of state for the decision to create master plans for the regions of the Russian Arctic and the Government of the Russian Federation for their support. It is planned that after the implementation of all planned investment projects in the agglomeration by 2035, more than 3 trillion rubles of investments will be invested in the Murmansk Region and more than 30,000 new jobs will be created.
Presentations by Alexander Tsybulsky, Governor of the Arkhangelsk Region, were devoted to the development of the Arkhangelsk urban agglomeration, Dmitry Artyukhov, Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, to the urban agglomerations of Salekhard–Labytnangi, Novy Urengoy and Noyabrsk, and Mikhail Kotyukov, Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, to the urban agglomerations of Norilsk-Dudinka, Dixon and Igarka.
Together with the President, the reports were heard by Deputy Prime Minister – Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin and Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the North-Western Federal District Alexander Gutsan.
Recall that in July 2023, during the visit of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to the Murmansk region, the Governor of the Murmansk Region, Andrey Chibis, proposed the concept of creating strongholds of the Russian Arctic. As a result, 16 support settlements of the Arctic zone were identified on behalf of the President.
The developed master plans from the Murmansk Region were first presented by Governor Andrey Chibis to the head of state in August 2024. During the meeting, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin approved the master plans for the agglomeration of the region and supported Andrey Chibis' proposal for federal co-financing of the renovation of houses in the Arctic and the development of a separate standard for Arctic medicine.
Photo: The Government of the Russian Federation, kremlin.ru Alexey Nikolsky, RIA Novosti.
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /