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Minister: Northern Sea Route will bring billions of dollars to Russia

It is reported that under the plan, the country will build port and railway infrastructures

ST. PETERSBURG, December 20. /TASS/. The national plan to develop the Northern Sea Route, where the term is to 2035 and investments are estimated at 1.8 trillion rubles ($260 billion), under the conditions of sanctions will favor Russia's export well-being for decades to come, Russia's Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunov told the 12th international forum Arctic: Present and Future.

"This is a plan to ensure transportation and export of products, which the global market needs, which the Russian Federation will produce in the coming decades, and which are worth trillions of dollars. That is, this is a plan to ensure Russia's well-being for decades to come," the minister said, adding the plan includes specific projects to keep the route busy. They include LNG and oil production projects in the Arctic. "What matters is mutual obligations. We have entered binding agreements which spell out when and what kind of cargo the businesses will provide, what icebreaker support will be requested from Rosatom, and what public investments must be made," he added.

Under the plan, the country will build port and railway infrastructures, he continued. Presently, the Trans-Siberian railway is very busy in the west-east direction, and due cargoes may reach about 100 million tons per year. "The option is to take these cargoes to the north, towards the northwest and then along the NSR, since the Northern Sea Route offers additional 100 million tons, and will offer 200 million tons by 2030, thus it may be an alternative," the minister said.

The plan to develop the Northern Sea Route envisages twelve new and two upgraded port terminals, and the Northern Latitudinal Railway-1. Total investments from various sources will amount to 792 billion rubles ($11.5 billion). According to Vladimir Panov, Rosatom's special representative, Russia presently has very good competencies in northern shipping. "It all has started with Nornickel's breakthrough solutions, when the company was the first in history to build high Arctic class vessels, and this combination of icebreaker capacities and high Arctic class vessels has created today's reality in terms of logistics," he said.

Cargo traffic growth

According to Panov, the Russian cargo traffic has been growing in 2022 due to the investment projects in the Far North. "Rosneft this year will bring more than 500,000 tons, this only is cargo for implementation of a key Arctic project - Vostok Oil (an oil production project in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Region - TASS). The AEON Corporation (Severnaya Zvezda) this year has brought cargo, and also has sent out first three shipments (of coal from the Syradasayskoye field on the Taymyr Peninsula), that is, the project is working already," he said.

NSR's traffic in 2022 is forecasted at 34 million tons by the end of the year. "I would like to stress that this year the increase by 850,000 tons has been in the Russian cargo traffic, because, if we eye the transit cargo flow, it was less stable and less predictable. The Russian cargo traffic has continued to grow," Rosatom's representative said.

Promising clusters to develop polymetallic ores in the Arctic zone may be "next growth points" for cargo transportation along the Northern Sea Route, he added. "Together with the Ministry [for Development] of the Far East [and Arctic], we have assessed the macro model to 2035 in terms of actual contribution into the country's development from existing and new projects. We believe, the GDP indicative volume is at 31.5 trillion rubles ($458 billion), and taxes revenues at all levels at 13.2 trillion rubles ($192 billion). <...> This means that the plan (to develop NSR), given it has a specific section to develop the cargo base, may become a master plan for the Arctic's development," Panov concluded.

About Northern Sea Route

The Northern Sea Route is the shortest water route between Russia's European part and the Far East.

The route from the Kara Gate to Providence Bay is about 5,600 km long. It lies within the Russian territorial waters and within its exclusive economic zone, which is specifically important in the conditions of disrupted logistics supply chains due to external sanctions.

About forum

The 12th international forum Arctic: Present and Future took place in St. Petersburg on December 8 and 9. In 2022, Russia marks the 90th anniversary of the Northern Sea Route, the 85th anniversary of the world's first drifting scientific station, North Pole-1, and the 15th anniversary of the high-latitude Arctic deep-water expedition (2007). Special activities on the forum's agenda were devoted to these events. The forum's organizer was the Association of Polar Explorers, supported by the Federation Council, the State Duma, the Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic, the Foreign Ministry and other authorities. Nornickel was the event's general partner. TASS was the general information partner.

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