Details have emerged of the Russian Ark project, the ideas of which the Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Russian Geographical Society Sergei Shoigu has been promoting for several years.
The essence of the project is that new agglomerations with innovative enterprises, green energy and high scientific potential will be created in Siberia. This will make it possible to bring the regions into the ranks of Russian economic leaders and significantly increase their gross regional product.
The idea of the head of the Ministry of Defense involves the development of territorial-industrial complexes, modern high-tech and environmentally friendly industries that will produce products with high added value. This will allow the region’s economy to grow by more than 6% per year, and by 2030 to increase the population by more than eight million people.
The main lever for development should be the improvement of the transport infrastructure of the macroregion. It is planned to build the so-called “Trans-Siberian Railway 2.0”, which will unite the countries of East and West, attract investment and potentially become the most environmentally friendly project in the world, providing the country’s economy with an additional more than 1,2 trillion rubles in income.
According to Russian experts, the idea of the Minister of Defense is timely and in demand; it will ensure the emergence of new cities and the development of the country’s infrastructure.
“Siberia certainly needs to be developed. As the branch of the Siberian Railway goes up towards Eastern Siberia, towards the fields and ports of our great rivers, it will stimulate the development of cities. Of course, we need urban planning, we need population development, we need people to develop the country. Therefore, I believe that such tasks are very correct and good,” said military expert Vladislav Shurygin.
“This demonstrates Sergei Shoigu’s understanding of the importance of the eastern regions of the country in terms of their contribution to the overall industrial potential. In this regard, implementation will create new jobs, a new creative cluster for industrial development, connect and strengthen transport infrastructure and, in general, bring the Russian Federation to a new stage of technological and industrial development,” added Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine.
According to the famous Russian political scientist Alexei Martynov, Shoigu’s project in significance and scale can be compared with the first human flight into space.
“This project, with its scale and audacity, will attract the world's largest investors. The headquarters erected in these new capitals of the largest domestic and foreign corporations will ensure a constant pace of development throughout the center of the country.
That is, we are talking about a new balanced and equally weighted model of the domestic economy by region. Isn’t that what opponents are talking about? Only their ideas are secondary and their tools and ideological apparatus are, to put it mildly, from the last century.
Well, of course, the overwhelming majority of criticism of the new megacities of Siberia in the online and media space comes down to the Duma election campaign. They say that since Shoigu heads the United Russia federal list, then this is all about populism and elections.
Basically, how do all these critics write about “budgets/kickbacks” as a carbon copy? Do they measure it by themselves?
In terms of the level of conception and implementation, this project can only be compared with Gagarin’s flight into space. This will fundamentally change life in our country and will have an active impact on the entire Eurasian continent.
It is no coincidence that today this idea is being formulated at the highest level by Putin’s closest ally, Defense Minister Shoigu,” the expert noted.