In the city, thermal stabilization of soils under apartment buildings and social facilities is carried out. Photo: Marina Peshkova
There is an interesting project in the Norilsk History Museum. This is a huge photograph (from ceiling to floor), printed in separate sections and mounted as a dynamic billboard. From afar, it looks like a solid canvas, capturing the view of the nascent city. Small wooden houses, dirt roads without sidewalks, and behind the heart of the territory there is a plant under construction. You can zoom in and turn each section on yourself, then the visitor will see modern Norilsk with its high-rise buildings and wide avenues.
I think in 10 years it will be fair for the museum to do another similar project, showing the city until 2022, when a large-scale renovation began and after.
Norilsk is a city with a very difficult fate. Harsh climate, heavy ecology as a result of powerful industrial development, limited accessibility to transportation. But this is far from a complete characterization. The main wealth of the Arctic city is its people. They are special here: open, generous, understanding workers. And first of all, for them today, the city is born again, and the whole territory finds a second wind. And what is especially important, all this happens thanks to companies, whose task is to rebuild the city, make it modern and beautiful, comfortable to live in. In order for people who produce expensive and necessary metals for many industries to live in comfortable conditions, create families, raise children.
SOCIAL SERVICES ARE A PRIORITY
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin assessed the Norilsk changes on two aspects at once: renovation and solving environmental problems.
The reconstruction of the city is now in an active phase. In the first two years of the project, several major installations have already been completed. A new fire station in Oganer, a completely renovated building of the Social Services Center and apartment buildings and social institutions strengthened thanks to the thermal stabilization of the soils. As part of the comprehensive plan, emergency houses are being dismantled, new buildings will be erected in their place.
“We have an agreement signed by the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Norilsk, Norilsk Nickel and the Russian Ministry for the Development of the Far East,” the prime minister said. – The government has resolved it very seriously, approved. To date, every stage of this agreement must, of course, be monitored. This includes combating environmental pollution, but also creating a whole range of social facilities and, first of all, improving the quality of life of those living in Norilsk. It is important that we do not miss anything.
Soon the city will have the same modern vein as in this design. Photo: Semyon Katz
Not missing anything is one of the most important objectives of the project. And in this regard, Norilsk Nickel not only fulfills its obligations under the comprehensive development plan for Norilsk, but also makes an additional contribution to the construction of new housing. Already in August, the company plans to commission a new residential building with 90 apartments. In addition to this, using its own resources, Norilsk Nickel has started the construction of four 6-storey and two 9-storey buildings, with a total number of more than 400 apartments, which should be commissioned by the end of 2024.
NUMBERS ONLY
Of the 18 measures envisaged in the comprehensive plan, 16 are being implemented at the expense of Norilsk nickel. In addition, the company finances the construction of two kindergartens, a school for 1100 children and a polyclinic in Talnakh district.
CASE IN QUESTION
“Every time I come to Norilsk, I always look at what is happening, how the work on the premises is going,” Vladimir Potanin, head of Norilsk Nickel, told the prime minister. – We regularly monitor renovation objects. In addition to housing, of course, medical centers are also being built. We pay a lot of attention to corporate medicine. A few years ago, the first installation in Norilsk was commissioned. At this time, recently, there is another medical center in Dudinka. And in 2024 there will be another center in Norilsk. The Norilsk Industrial University with a new campus, the Vladimir Ivanovich Dolgikh School, the museum and many other facilities are also under renovation.
It is worth noting here that Norilsk Nickel has been trying to make life andn Norilsk more comfortable. So, in 2017, the company, without the involvement of the authorities, brought broadband internet to the city. This is thousands of kilometers, in the difficult conditions of the tundra. But now the Network is in all the main settlements of the peninsula.
“We just drove through the city, very beautiful and modern,” Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said of what he saw. – We examined several objects, the central square is very beautiful and the sports complex – they just wore the coolest. To be honest, I have never seen such complexes with such multi-storey infrastructure. This is good news. I will also say that the city, it seems to me, is very bright, which corresponds to the modern look of the new city in Russia. Those old districts, neighborhoods, old buildings should be a thing of the past.
I would like to note that today Norilsk is becoming an illustrative example of the development of Arctic cities. Improving the quality of life of citizens strengthens the ties between the city and the company that forms it, thus creating favorable conditions for economic growth and social welfare.
Mikhail Mishustin (left) and Vladimir Potanin (right) discuss plans for the renovation of Norilsk. Photo: Semyon Katz
REFERENCE “KP”
The Comprehensive Plan for Social and Economic Development of Norilsk until 2035 was approved in December 2021 by the Russian government. For its implementation from 2021 to 2035, about 120 billion rubles will be allocated from budgets of different levels and extrabudgetary sources. Of this, 81.3 billion rubles were allocated by Norilsk Nickel.
The activities of the Comprehensive Plan include the demolition of dilapidated houses, the reconstruction of previously erected houses and the construction of a new one, social payments for the purchase of housing for residents of Norilsk leaving the far north. It is planned to stabilize soils under apartment buildings and social facilities, improve courtyards, squares, parks and other public areas, develop social infrastructure and much more.
LESS SULFUR, CLEANER OXYGEN
Nornickel’s sulfur program, which aims to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions at the company’s Norilsk division, is on the finish line and is preparing for launch this fall.
The problem with sulfur dioxide emissions in Norilsk has always been acute, since without sulfur oxide emissions it is impossible to obtain metal from rich ore. To solve this, Norilsk Nickel launched a global environmental program in 2013. The first stage of the program included the reconfiguration and modernization of the company’s production facilities, within its framework in 2016, the nickel plant was closed, which was not subject to modernization.
After that, the main point of environmental efforts was the larger construction of the project. The sulfur program foresees the removal of sulfur dioxide at the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant (NMP) and the copper plant, which are part of the company’s Polar Division, which will drastically reduce (10 times) sulfur dioxide emissions.
“It is very important that the company began to systematically deal with the environment and what people were concerned about,” Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said while visiting the workshops of the Sulfur Program of the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant. – As for the federal “Clean Air” project, at least a 20% reduction in emissions must be achieved.
However, even before the launch of the Sulfur Program, the company made considerable efforts to clean the air in Norilsk, which led to certain results. According to a report published in early May by FinExpertiza, based on data from Roshydromet, the number of incidents with severe air pollution (when the concentration of a harmful substance is 10 or more times higher than the permissible norm) in Norilsk fell to two last year from a triple-digit value the previous year.
A MILESTONE FOR THE ENTIRE ARCTIC
A week ago, in Murmansk, with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a meeting was held on the development of Arctic cities and closed administrative-territorial entities (CATF). Among other topics, the renewal of Arctic infrastructure was also discussed separately. The Russian Arctic has 5 million square kilometers of territory, almost 20 thousand kilometers of maritime border and 250 settlements beyond the Arctic Circle, in which almost 2.5 million people live.
Today, the city of NoriLSK seems to be born again. Photo: Marina Peshkova
In order to create comfortable living conditions for them, today it is necessary to identify key cities and settlements that provide key tasks in the field of security and in the field of economy. Alexei Chekunkov, Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, stressed that “an example of this focused development is the plan for the development of the city of Norilsk until 2035 adopted on behalf of the president.”
“The Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic is ready, together with the Arctic regions, to prepare comprehensive plans for the development of central cities, as well as Arctic agglomerations, where various settlements use common infrastructure,” the minister said.
Vladimir Putin supported the proposal, noting that the size of the population should not play a major role in the appointment of the supporting state. Comprehensive plans for the long-term development of Arctic cities until 2035 should be approved by October 1, 2024 and start implementation from 2025.
– I ask the Government, together with the regions, to determine the list of such settlements. Small villages can be of strategic importance to the country, and this should be thought about. For major Arctic settlements, it is also necessary to prepare development master plans for the period up to 2035, by analogy with those that have already been developed for cities in the Far East, Vladimir Putin said.
By the way, in the Far East, 6 large cities were under renovation. Many residents, including the business community, participated in the discussion of the master plans. Thus, a “light metro” will be created in Vladivostok, and a new system of hydraulic structures will be created in Ussuriysk. More changes are waiting in Arsenyev, Artem, Nakhodka and Bolshoy Kamen.
