On the second day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) held in the northern capital [of Russia] from June 5 to 8, Andrey Grachev, Vice-President of the Norilsk Nickel company, answered the Rossiyskaya Gazeta (RG) correspondent’s questions about the present and future of the Russian Arctic, as well as the role played by wise heads, so called think-tankers, working at the research institutes for the development of the northern cities.
Andrey Mikhailovich, Norilsk Nickel traditionally takes an active part in the St. Petersburg Forum and focuses on the Arctic agenda. How are things going this year?
Andrey Grachev: We focus on the Arctic agenda because the production areas where our company operates are located in the Arctic zone of Russia.
Since the previous forum, many important events have occurred. In particular, on the initiative of the Governor of the Murmansk Region Andrey Vladimirovich Chibis, the concept of the ‘anchor cities’ of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is under implementation; the zone includes Monchegorsk and Norilsk... and many cities, including those where our company operates. The work on the master plans is currently in progress, and this indicates that we are making rather good progress in the Arctic.
By the way, there was a very interesting discussion at the forum today about whether our country needs the federal Arctic project, and the concept of the ‘anchor cities’ I mentioned represents its real prototype, if not a fully elaborate federal project.
The Murmansk Region is among the main regions where Norilsk Nickel operates. Tell us about the main directions of the development of the company’s projects in this region.
A.G.: It’s good that thanks to Andrey Vladimirovich, a high positive level of investment climate has been created in the region - of course, the governor and his team deserve great credit for this. The main document that is the basis of our relations with the Murmansk Region is an agreement signed by the company with the governor and providing for various social and economic activities at the sum of 10 bn rubles. 62 percent of this sum is the money invested by the Norilsk Nickel company in the Murmansk Region.
Of course, our team does not rest on their oars. We are currently working on new interesting projects; in particular, the construction of rental housing in Monchegorsk. With the support of Aleksey Olegovich Chekunkov (Russian Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic - ed.) and the governor, Norilsk Nickel is negotiating with Dom.RF (a financial institution for developing the housing sector in Russia - ed.) to create a pilot project for rental housing, which is in demand with the people, in our opinion. In principle, we are advancing at a fairly fast pace.
I can’t help but say a few words about the Arctic tourism. By the way, we see a whole movement of governors in the country who support the Arctic tourism. Just today, we heard about the development of this relatively new tourism segment from the governors of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (District), the Astrakhan and the Murmansk regions. This tourism segment has a promising future.
The Norilsk Nickel company is now developing the projects like Valla Tunturi in the Murmansk Region, Zatundra in the Taimyr Peninsula in the Krasnoyarsk Territory... I would like to say that since 2016, the tourist flow has doubled, for example, in the Murmansk Region! This is a fairly serious topic and the increase is significant, and the main thing now is to build tourism infrastructure facilities that could efficiently accommodate this tourist flow.
There are still problems with the tourism infrastructure, but the Norilsk Nickel company does its best to solve this problem together with the governors - the head of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Mikhail Mikhailovich Kotyukov and the head of the Murmansk Region Andrey Vladimirovich Chibis.
And, the environmental issues, of course, are of importance. For example, at our production site in Monchegorsk, good results have been achieved, and a reduction in emissions by six times has been recorded from 2020 to the present day.
There is much talk at the SPIEF about “making northern cities warmer”; the Government is actively discussing the concept of working out appropriate master plans. Please tell us about your experience in this field in Norilsk and Monchegorsk.
A.G.: Recently, we discussed the following topic with the governor of the Murmansk Region: What about turning the concept around and getting a new angle on it? It is generally accepted that Monchegorsk is only a production site, a mono-city where the metal is made - and that’s all. But we looked at this problem from another angle and realized that there was a good opportunity to build a mountain ski resort there, and this could become the basis for the development of the Arctic sports tourism. We hope that this idea will be included in the master plan.
As for the master plans for Norilsk and Dudinka, there are also many interesting projects. For example, there is a Samsonkino water intake that has been used for quite a long time, and 20 percent of the water is consumed by our company, and 80 percent by the city of Dudinka. The Norilsk Nickel company has invested half a billion rubles in the reconstruction of the water intake, and we hope that the further development of the infrastructure facilities in Dudinka will also be included in the master plan.
What role do the research institutes for the development of cities play, and how do big businesses interact with them?
A.G.: To promote an idea, an appropriate tool for promoting it is required. And if the idea is unusual, it is difficult to promote it through any formalized organizations. That is why the company has long ago created - jointly with the local authorities and municipalities - research institutes for regional development in the areas where it operates. These are unique ‘laboratories of ideas’ - think-tanks - where the most original ideas set forth by creative, active-minded persons of great invention become a reality.
The main goal is the implementation of ideas. Both the Arctic tourism cluster in Norilsk and many interesting proposals in the Murmansk Region are all the work of the ‘hands and wise heads’ of these research institutes for regional development.
