MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. Rosmorport plans to continue Volga-Caspian Seaway Canal dredging but suggests deciding on the need to extend it, head of the state company Sergey Pylin told reporters.
"We have the presidential instruction to ensure the canal draft of 4.5 meters along the entire channel with keeping certain sections of one-way traffic. Nobody took the instruction off control; it continues to be in effect. We plan the dredged soil volume of about 5 mln cubic meters this year," Pylin said, adding that the last-year volume was 6.8 mln cubic meters.
"We continue performing the presidential instruction on keeping the draft of 4.5 meters. Spring measurements will show the volume," he noted.
While the canal maintains the possibility for navigation of vessels with the draft of 4.5 meters, a vessel with such draft cannot navigate outside it, Pylin said. "To this end, the canal should be expanded in the marine part," he noted. "Furthermore, the limits of Olya seaport should also be expanded," he said.
The problem is also that the Caspian Sea is shoaling at about 20 centimeters per year, Pylin added.