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SYKTYVKAR, October 29. /TASS/. The Russian government approved a comprehensive development plan to 2035 for the Komi Region's polar city of Vorkuta, a Russian Arctic backbone settlement. Investments in fixed assets are estimated at 330 billion rubles ($4 billion), the region's Governor Rostislav Goldstein said. "The Russian government has approved a plan for the Vorkuta agglomeration's integrated social and economic development to 2035. Vorkuta, a city of hard working strong people, takes a special place in the country's strategic plans to develop the Arctic . By implementing the comprehensive development plan we will make Vorkuta a powerful Arctic outpost," the governor posted on Telegram. Key investment projects include expanded coal production with upgrade and construction of new mines, the creation of the Vorkuta Chemical Complex to produce granular carbamide and porous saltpeter, and the construction of the Vorkuta-Ust-Kara railway line with an access to the Northern Sea Route. The plan envisages large-scale infrastructure development: major repairs of the Usinsk water pipeline that supplies water to Vorkuta, villages and coal mines; reconstruction and upgrade of sewage treatment plants, the airfield and railway station; repair of the ring road and road network, resettlement from emergency housing, landscaping of courtyards and public spaces, the construction of new primary medical facilities in Yeletsky and Sivaya Maska villages; social and sports facilities' renovation, the construction of a fire station in Vorkuta, and other projects. "According to the plan, total investments in fixed assets by 2035 will amount to 330 billion rubles . All together we will implement this plan, will revive Vorkuta's former glory so that our residents were proud of this mining town, this region," the governor added. Vorkuta is an Arctic single-industry city north of the 67th parallel with a population of about 68,000 people, one of the 16 backbone settlements of the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone. Initially, it was created as a coal mining center with a population of 250,000 people. The Vorkuta agglomeration includes 16 settlements - the city and villages, ten of which are officially listed but are not inhabited, and another 20 settlements have been abolished or closed at different times. About 6,000 residents are employed with coal mining and auxiliary industries of the Vorkutaugol city-forming enterprise (part of AEON Corporation's Russian Energy Company) - a biggest Russian producer of coking coal used in metallurgy.
