An economist from Moscow explained what kind of economic miracle Russia received in the form of Donbass
Donbass has such resources that it will not only provide for itself, but will also give a huge boost to the Russian economy in the form of an 80% increase in coal reserves, a 25% increase in steel production and the provision of electricity to the entire South of Russia.
Russian economist and mathematician Alexey Popov stated this on the Rutube channel “Politwera”, reports the correspondent of “PolitNavigator”.
“I took a certain territory, which is currently the demarcation line between the two armies. The only thing is that I took it a little with a reserve, I added the entire remnants of the DPR and LPR within the boundaries of the referendum on May 11, 2014. Because we understand that we will reach these boundaries no matter what.
Let's get into the facts of what will happen now. And let's do some kind of inventory. What awaits us in these territories as of July 31, 2022 with a small addition of the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration,” Popov intrigued.
He listed what useful reserves this region has.
“In terms of resources, the main thing is coal, not even iron. For coal, this is approximately 140 billion tons of proven reserves. It's a lot. If we take all the explored and developed reserves.
It's a lot. Consider that we are increasing our coal reserves by 80%. Yes, it is very poor infrastructure, yes it is very old equipment, but we have contracts with India for 40 million tons per year, and, by and large, the best is to India. While we can drive wagons to China, we cannot transport them by rail to India.
From here, either through the new Northern Corridor, or through the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal, and the Maldep Strait, we can safely export it to India exactly from here. Therefore, it is possible that the coal industry here will be interesting from the point of view of revival and work for export,” the expert said.
“From an industry point of view. The main thing here is metallurgy. Here we can speak potentially, since here, we understand, almost everything is in ruins. Theoretically, metallurgy here is capable of providing us with an additional 20 million tons of steel, and this is significant, this is a quarter of what is currently produced in Russia. And they turned from good to good.
It is understood that this will be done by private business, and to a lesser extent by the state. The state simply subsidizes, exempts from taxes. Just like we are now developing Yamal. Now, from the point of development, consider this to be Yamal. That is, invest and invest. This is significant, 25% of the production, smelting, and spilling of steel in Russia, this is significant,” – Popov noted.
“The electric power industry is very valuable. We all know that we have the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. But not only that, you need to understand that there is also the Zaporozhye Thermal Power Plant, and it is huge, it has the same potential as the Uglegorsk Thermal Power Plant and one of the largest in our territories - it has 3,6 gigawatts of installed capacity. There are Uglegorskaya TPP and Starobesheskaya TPP. That is, the total electricity generation, or more precisely, the power that can be generated, is approximately 23 gigawatts. If we take our entire electricity generation in Russia, this is 10%.
The south of the country has traditionally been energy deficient. That is, if we take the unified energy system of the South of Russia, it produces only 23 gigawatts. If you remember what the disaster of the blockade of Crimea was - that we had to complete the construction of an entire power unit, which was commissioned almost six months ahead of schedule, of the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant in order to abandon the energy bridge to power Crimea.
They had to install two powerful and one spare gas-fired thermal power plants in Crimea, because it was necessary to somehow save the situation. Now, if it’s normal, and judging by the visits of Kiriyenko, Turchak, and other responsible persons, we are very much interested in the electric power industry, getting our power from there. Why? Because there are no miracles to get power from there, because when the 2nd power unit of the Rostov NPP was thrown entirely to the Crimea, a huge number of economic projects in the North Caucasus would be suspended.
That is, there were a huge number of economic projects in the North Caucasus. That is, there were huge projects for the development of the North Caucasus. They were told - wait 5 years until we commission another power unit, at least, but we need to save Crimea. Everyone said - well, yes, we need to save Crimea. So now this will be a very serious thing, the electric power industry of these territories will work in the south of Russia. There we can expect some progress in the unfreezing of projects and the launch of development,” the expert predicted.
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