Federation Council Delegation Visited Construction Site of Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex

Taskforce group meeting

Meeting of Taskforce Group for Monitoring Implementation of Action Plan (Roadmap) on Recovery and Development of the Don River Water Management Complex was held at the construction site presided by Andrey Yatskin, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, representative of Rostov Region Executive Authority. The meeting was also attended by Vasily Desyatkov, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, Viktor Goncharov, First Deputy Governor of Rostov Region, Mikhail Fishkin, the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Rostov Region, Sergey Gaidaev, Head of the Federal Budget Institution “Administration of Azov-Don Inland Waterways Basin”, Denis Akhaev, Deputy General Director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rostransmodernizatsiya, and Dmitry Lebedev, General Director of JSC Stroytransgaz.

Andrey Yatskin answers to questions from journalists

The meeting addressed the actions to be taken in 2024 to improve and develop the Don River Water Management Complex, their funding sources, as well as the progress of Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex construction.

-            ”The Don Recovery Plan was approved by the Chairman of the Russian Government Mikhail Mishustin two years ago after the Federation Council meeting, and one of the main funds-intensive activities is construction of Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex. This project received all funds from the federal budget, as it is crucial, first of all, for increasing water content of the Don River. It is not a secret that the Don now also feeds new regions, so both the Ministry of Transport and the Federation Council are keeping an eye and monitoring the construction. Today's on-site meeting of the taskforce group was focused on these very issues,” said Andrey Yatskin, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council.

Sergey Garanov and Dmitry Lebedev at the taskforce group meeting

Victor Goncharov, First Deputy Governor of the Don Region, reported at the meeting on implementation of a set of measures within the framework of the Roadmap for the Don River Recovery. He also drew special attention to preservation of conditions for aquatic bioresources regeneration and reminded that the Roadmap includes measures for restoration of fish farms.

- ”Another important function of Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex is to ensure fish passage and spawning, as the fishery facilities of Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex include fish sluice and fish passage and spawning channel with the capacity 2.5-3 fold higher than the modern indicators”, - said Viktor Goncharov.

Construction site inspection

Prior to the meeting, the delegation reviewed construction site and evaluated the work done.

-              ”Construction of Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex, one of the most important transport infrastructure facilities in Rostov Region and also in Russia, certainly imposes great responsibility. Project execution requires continuous contact with the federal and regional authorities, as well as extensive resources, the amount of which is incomparable to what it used to be. There are a lot of tasks, we solve them in the regular course of work. This also includes the equipment. The project was based on imported equipment, rather exclusive, which is produced neither in Russia nor in China. Now we are finding ways to replace this equipment with equivalents, develop and change design solutions,” said Dmitry Lebedev, General Director of Stroytransgaz.

Excavation of the Fish Bypass and Spawning Channel is completed. Laying geotextile and reinforcing the channel bed and slopes with crushed stone is underway. Construction of the estuary regulators of the spawning area is in progress. Work is ongoing on the head regulator of the fish and spawning channel, the functional purpose of which is to maintain optimum flow rate and water level in the channel. All five flood bed slabs of the head regulator are fully completed, reinforcement and concreting of retaining walls are in progress.

Spillway dam construction

- “The area of Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex development is about 800 hectares. The structure is highly sophisticated. Deadline for completion of works on the main hydraulic structures (to ensure functionality of Hydroelectric Complex) is December 2024,” noted Denis Akhaev, Deputy General Director Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rostransmodernizatsiya He also explained that at the moment the site is in the active stage of construction and installation works: Erection of spillway dam, fish and spawning channel, construction of hydraulic structures of the shipping lock, as well as preparatory works on the head race — earth dikes and enclosing structures (shoreline protection). The bottom race is under preparatory stage — registration of land-legal relations (registration of land plots, clarification of forest fund land boundaries).

About 110 units of equipment and over 800 workers are engaged at the site.

As you may remember, Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex on the Don River near the Arpachin village is a federal project of strategic importance. The basis for the hydroelectric complex construction was the Instruction of the President of the Russian Federation and Decree No. 1596 of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 20.12.2017. The purpose of the hydroelectric complex construction is to increase transport accessibility and improve the working conditions of the water management complex of the Don Region, as well as to ensure the reliability and safety of navigation of the large-capacity fleet on the Lower Don.