Construction of the first phase facilities of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex on the river Don (preparatory period)

In 2018, Stroytransgaz JSC (STG) won the tender and signed the contract for construction of phase 1 facilities (preparation period) of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex on the Don river, near Arpachin hamlet in Rostov region. The State Customer is the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. The Customer is the Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport  (Rosmorrechflot) The developer is Federal State-Funded Institution “Administration for the Azov-Don Basin of Inland Waterways”. Stroytransgaz acted as the General Contractor. The preparatory, construction and installation works included in the phase 1 were completed in December 2019.

The implementation of the project on the construction of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex is intended to solve the problems of navigation by the Volga-Don waterway and water supply for the Rostov and Volgograd regions, as well as the problems of fish farming, land reclamation, water supply and, in general, preservation of the Don River. Hydroelectric complex will become part of the new economy of the region, which will stimulate the development of the transport system.

Maxim Sokolov, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, called the start of the construction of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex a historical event that the entire transport industry has long been waiting for. “The project execution will enable to increase the throughput capability of the Volga-Don channel, ensure the  safety of navigation, development of export transport infrastructure alongside with resolving the task of dependable water supply for the region and rehabilitation of the Tsimlyansk reservoir, the largest in the south of the country”, - pointed out the Minister of Transport.

At the beginning of construction on the territory of the future hydroelectric complex, fragments of a number of sunk ships were discovered as well as a big number of explosive objects. With the involvement of special services, the preserved fragments of the objects were raised from the bottom and sent over to the museum. Among the items found there were fragments of  project 1125 armored boat of the Azov warship flotilla, which was blown up and sunk by the crew in July 1942 during the Wehrmacht offensive.  

Within the framework of the project, STG carried out the construction of a navigable bypass channel for transfer of the navigable pass for the period of work (dredging of the bypass channel to a depth of 4 m, total quantity dredged was around 1.7 million cubic meters), power transmission line for energy supply of the construction camp. Specialists also erected the pier of the construction base and created hydraulic fill areas on which administrative buildings and structures of the future hydroelectric complex will be located. To implement these tasks, builders used the soil obtained during dredging operations.