The place for the new city in Siberia was not chosen by chance
And again about the "cities of Shoigu". The town-planning initiatives of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu caused a lot of emotions, positive and negative, in Russia and abroad. There was a lot of criticism in the spirit of the fact that there is no money in the country, that all this is empty projecting and pre-election "manilovism", that it is better to spend budget funds on already existing cities than to fence them from scratch in an open field, wolves and bears in his mind will not go, etc. in the same spirit. Recently, the press leaked information about where the first Shoiguburg might appear, and after getting acquainted with the preliminary parameters of this project, we can conclude that it is being built on quite sound foundations and has a good chance of taking place.
It is worth recalling that Sergei Kuzhugetovich, voicing his initiative, made a reference to the experience of the USSR, obviously inspired by Soviet plans for the development of Siberia. I.V. Stalin wanted to connect the western and eastern parts of the country with three parallel railways - the Transsib, the BAM and the Transpolar railway, and they were also supposed to be crossed by railways perpendicularly from south to north. In particular, the so-called Northern Latitudinal Railway was to be extended to Yamal as an offshoot of the Transpolar Railway. Thus, a single and reliable system of transport connectivity of the largest country on the planet was formed, and large settlements were supposed to be built at the intersections. Alas, not all plans were destined to come true, but at present the government of the Russian Federation has begun to expand the capacity of the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur highways, and a highway with a total length of 2545 kilometers stretches to the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
So, we see a return to some of the infrastructural ideas of the Soviet period. But where exactly can these “Shoigu cities” be built? Siberia is so big, and the federal budget is really not rubber. Wouldn't it be better to focus on the development of existing settlements, as the Siberians themselves say with noticeable resentment? The truth, as always, is somewhere in between. From information leaked to the domestic press, it became known that the first "Shoiguburg" could appear in the Minusinsk Basin, and the entire Angara-Yenisei macroregion will become the "anchor" for the project for the new development of Siberia. Why is it worth starting a new "conquest of Siberia" from there?
"Siberian Italy"
In the minds of the inhabitants of Central Russia, and even more so foreigners, Siberia is something so huge and sparsely populated on the map on the right, where eternally hungry bears roam, guarding the resource-rich subsoil from bearded geologists. It's always cold and scary there, and everyone wants to leave. But Siberia is so different.
The Minusinsk Basin, which is discussed in the framework of the urban planning initiatives of the Minister of Defense Shoigu, is located in the southern part of Eastern Siberia. This area is located between several mountain ranges and has an unusually mild climate. The average temperature in July is 21,1 degrees Celsius, in January - minus 18. Winters with little snow. Most of the soil in the basin is black soil; the growing season lasts 160 days. For such comfortable climatic conditions, the exiled Decembrists called the Minusinsk Basin "Siberian Italy". Like this. And we are told "on serious cabbage soup" tales that no one needs land in Siberia for nothing. Oh well.
Macroregion
The second thing I would like to draw your attention to is that "Shoiguburg" and the mentioned 3-5 cities will not be built in a spherical vacuum. As a fulcrum in this perspective with economic From the point of view of the region, the Angara-Yenisei macroregion can be used, which includes Khakassia, Tuva, Krasnoyarsk Territory and Irkutsk Region. In addition to the new million-plus city, which needs to be built, an emphasis will be placed on the development of existing ones: Bratsk (242 thousand people), Angarsk (231,9 thousand people), Ust-Ilimsk (83 thousand people), Ust-Kut (42 thousand people) ) and Sayansk (41 thousand people).
The Angara-Yenisei region has been in the priorities of the federal center for several years, being in the top five in terms of investment attractiveness. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Rusal and RusHydro are jointly building the Boguchansky Aluminum Plant. In the Irkutsk region, 170 billion rubles were invested in the construction of the Ust-Kutsk gas processing plant and another 168 billion in a polymer production plant in the same Ust-Kut. There are prospects for the development of mountain clusters in Angarsk, Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk. Thus, there are already powerful city-forming enterprises. If the defense enterprises of the military-industrial complex are moved to the region away from NATO missiles, then the picture will sparkle with completely different colors. "Shoiguburg" will become an informal new capital of the macroregion, a large research and production center, and together with it, the total population of existing cities will grow in synergy.
Hydrogen cluster
But not only the defense industry can increase the wealth of Siberia. Shoiguburg has every chance of becoming an important center for the emerging hydrogen energy industry. As we already told, the leading world powers have begun the process of "decarbonization" of their economies. Russia has the necessary resources and Technology in order to become a major supplier of blue, yellow and green hydrogen. "Yellow", generated with the help of nuclear energy, is a new promising direction, which is being dealt with by the state corporation "Rosatom". Blue hydrogen is the topic of Gazprom and NOVATEK. And the "green", released from water with the help of renewable energy sources, can become the "Shoiguburg" project.
So, this new metropolis, most likely, will appear on the banks of the Yenisei, where the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is located nearby. If we add together the river water and the energy of the water, then at the exit we get "green" hydrogen. Environmentally friendly fuel can be used both in the production of industrial products with a low "carbon footprint" and for export abroad. China, which may need "green" hydrogen, is not so far from the Minusinsk Basin.
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