160 participants from all over Russia discussed the problems of water resources in Kazan
For two days in Kazan, the heads of regional authorities discussed the best pilot projects for improving the Volga River in order to take these developments into account in the work on the new unified water project.
Let us recall that, on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the unified federal project on ecological improvement of rivers and lakes for 2025-2030 will cover all major water bodies in all regions of Russia. It will improve the quality of life of at least 80 million Russians.
The seminar was attended by the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Pavel Baryshev, Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing of Russia Alexey Yeresko, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan Alexander Shadrikov, as well as representatives of Rosvodresursov, Rosrybolovstvo, Rosprirodnadzor and other regions of the country participating in the implementation of the federal project "Improving the Volga".
"The Volga is one of the main waterways of our country. This is the "home" for 60 million Russians, as well as a powerful node of the state economy – it is along the banks of the Volga that most of the industrial production and agricultural areas of the country are concentrated. The toxic impact on the Volga ecosystem exceeds the average in Russia by five times. That is why the experience of implementing a project to reduce the volume of pollutants in the Volga is so important when developing a new project," the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia Pavel Baryshev said at the seminar.
Pavel Baryshev also noted that within the framework of the Volga federal project, measures for the construction and reconstruction of treatment facilities are the most capital-intensive and take up more than 70% of all costs. So 85 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget for them. This is due, among other things, to the fact that more than 70% of sewage treatment plants in the country were built 30 – 50 years ago, 80% of them require modernization, and some are not subject to restoration at all and need complete reconstruction.
In the whole country, 94 events have been implemented on the territory of 15 subjects of the Russian Federation to date, and 45 more need to be completed by the end of 2024. Tatarstan is among the three leading regions in terms of the number of implemented events.
Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing of Russia Alexey Yeresko drew attention to the need and effectiveness of close interaction of all structures: from government authorities and the scientific community to designers and contractors. In addition, the federal head appreciated the work on the modernization of sewage treatment plants in Tatarstan, calling the team of the Government of Tatarstan "the strongest in the country". "The best project can be anything if it is implemented by a team! Projects are "doomed to success" if the project manager feels like a member of the team. I regularly note the work of the customer, executive authorities, contractors, designers and all related colleagues. Tatarstan <...> is known for its well-coordinated team. How did they manage to organize work on such complex treatment facilities in Kazan — and not only in it!", - said Yeresko.
Within the framework of the seminar, the participants visited an exhibition of innovative and technical developments dedicated to the improvement of the Volga, where the program of digitalization of the ecology industry, the project of the Ministry of Ecology of Tatarstan "Free Current" and the program complex "Gidrokaskad", which allows monitoring and modeling the situation with the Volga level, were presented.
Speaking at the seminar, the Minister of Ecology of Tatarstan spoke about the activities within the framework of the national project "Ecology", which have already been implemented and are being implemented in the Republic, emphasizing that an integrated approach is important in solving any environmental problems. "Interaction is very important. The dialogue between government and society, business and science is important. We have learned how to structure problems in order to solve them systematically. We are not afraid to take responsibility for the implementation of any pilot project that will benefit the residents of our republic. During her visit to Tatarstan, Victoria Valeryevna Abramchenko also spoke about this. She noted that during the reconstruction of sewage treatment plants, Tatarstan has comprehensively approached the problem and such experience needs to be replicated. Therefore, today we have just gathered to exchange experience with other regions of Russia." – said the Minister of Ecology of the Republic of Tatarstan.
He added that Tatarstan, having already had experience of working within the framework of the federal project "Improvement of the Volga", will propose to introduce measures for further modernization of treatment facilities already in the new project of improvement of water bodies initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. "The President of our country, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, has repeatedly noted that the main thing is the health and quality of life of our people. Everything we do is for the benefit of our residents. The efforts of every level and branch of government, business, science and the public should be subordinated to this task. I am sure that Tatarstan's experience in the context of an integrated approach to solving the problems of protecting water bodies will be in demand and interesting to other regions of the country," Alexander Shadrikov concluded his speech.
The seminar-meeting in Kazan was held on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko, who visited Tatarstan on a working visit in September and highly appreciated the results of the region's work within the framework of the federal project "Improving the Volga".