Russia's Company Towns

Timothy Birdnow

Not content with old, decrepit slums, the Russian government plans on building NEW decripit slums in Siberia!

Russia Planning Biggest Oil Project in History of World - $155 Billion Investment, 15 New Towns, Airports, Ports, 100K Jobs

It will be the biggest project in modern-day global oil industry, Sechin underlined to Putin.

According to the Rosneft leader, the Vostok Oil will include the development of 15 new industry towns, two airports, a seaport, about 800 km of new pipelines, 3500 km of new electricity lines and 2000 MW of electric power capacity.

It will require 100,000 new jobs and lead to a 2 percent annual hike in national GDP, heexplains.

To Arctic coast

The project is based onthe development of several oil fields, includingat least threein the Vankor area. The new pipelines and theprojected seaport terminal will enable the partners to export an estimated 25 million tons oil per year through the Northern Sea Route.

The pipeline will also be projected to carryoil from Payakha, the fields located along the Yenisey River. By year 2030, a total of 100 million tons of oil can be exported through the pipeline and the new seaport in Taymyr. Afleet of top ice-class Arc7 tankers are to be built for the project, Sechinhas previously explained.

Good luck Russkies!  While I'm all for more oil and gas anywhere, I rather doubt these new cities will develop in the way they hope. They will be company towns, entirely dependent on the company and on government subsidies. They may produce oil and gas - or not - but they will not spur real settlement and vibrant communities.

These kind of things can't be done top down. That has never worked in the past. That is why Russia was never able to settle Siberia in the first place.

People may go there for a stint but will return home. In the end these big communities will fail.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 08:19 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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