Sergey Darkin reported positive results of the region’s development in 2009. Specialized oil port Kozmino started operations and shipped 500 thousand tons of ESPO oil. WWF Russia Far East Division provided Rostkehnadzor with the results of public ecological expert evaluation regarding the dangers of constructing a new gas pipeline. Learn more in the weekly report by FederalPress.
Sergey Darkin reported positive results of the region’s development in 2009. Specialized oil port Kozmino started operations and shipped 500 thousand tons of ESPO oil. WWF Russia Far East Division provided Rostkehnadzor with the results of public ecological expert evaluation regarding the dangers of constructing a new gas pipeline. Learn more in the weekly report by FederalPress.
2009 results
Governor of Primorsky Region Sergey Darkin held a weekly government meeting which included observers from the federal structures and was devoted to the results of 2009.
Regional GDP grew by 1.5 times, as did birthrate. Death rate, on the contrary, slowed down. The number of crimes reduced by 14%. Current unemployment level in the region makes only 3.37%. The government is supporting labor market by providing re-training courses, relocating professionals and helping to start small private businesses.
Poverty level fell down from 22 percent (2008) to 19 percent (2009). The prognosis for 2010 is continuous reduction of poverty up to 15 %.
The amount of back pay is also rapidly reducing. As of January 1, 2010 wages debt made 17.1 million rubles, which is by 1.8 times less than in 2009.
Electronic government
Presidential envoy in the Far East Federal District Victor Ishaev is going to control building the system of electronic government in the regions of the Far East. This is a special communication system between various state bodies which aims at rising their work efficiency and speed of information exchange.
Presidential envoy will also personally monitor implementation of a number of other projects in Primorsky Region: employment support program, road construction, medical facilities construction and preparations for the APEC 2012 Summit.
Kozmino oil port
Specialized oil tanker port Kozmino shipped 5 tankers carrying the total of 500 thousand tons of oil (Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean brand) since the beginning of this year.
The port can serve tankers with deadweight of 80-150 thousand tons. Two more tankers (Atlantic Explorer and Sky Lady) will take 100 thousand tons of oil on board until the end of January.
Leopards’ Park
Governmental ecological expertise (provided by Rostekhnadzor) will assess the affect of the gas pipeline Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok construction on the environment. The project suggests building part of the pipeline on the territory of Khasansky nature reserve, located in the south of Primorsky Region.
The public ecological expertise decided that the affect would be negative and did not recommend to initiate construction. The commission has proved that the official Environment Impact Assessment provided by the construction contractor contained invalid and unverified data.
WWF Russia hopes that Rostekhnadzor takes this information into consideration when conducting its own evaluation.
Khasansky Nature Park is unique since it is the only place on the planet where Far East Leopard still exists. This rare and beautiful feline species is on the verge of extinction. Its population might be seriously damaged by the planned gas pipeline construction.