Glavgosexpertiza of Russia (Russia's General Board of State Expert Review) has issued a positive conclusion on the project for the development of the water basin in Southern district at the seaport of Ust-Luga, located in the southeastern part of the Luga Bay, the Gulf of Finland, the agency said in a press release.
Experts of Glavgosexpertiza having studied the presented documents on the project, came to the conclusion that the results of engineering surveys and design documentation comply with the requirements of technical regulations and other established requirements and the results of engineering surveys performed for its development. Also Gravgosexpertiza completed verification of the reliability of the estimated cost of the project. Based on the results of the examination, Glavgosexpertiza issued positive opinion.
General Designer of the project is GT Morstroy.
The first positive opinion on the project was issued by the St. Petersburg branch of Glavgosexpertiza of Russia in September 2008. The project required several changes to made with further submission for evaluation to the state expert review board.
The plan for the construction of the port on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland traces as far back as the 16th century, when the country needed access to the Baltic Sea.
The construction of the first Russian port in the Baltic Sea began at the mouth of the Narva River in July 1557 under the decree of Ivan the Terrible, but due to wars with the Livonian Confederation and Sweden it was never completed. The idea of building a port in the Luga Bay was next time revived in the 1930s, but the plans were frozen as the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) began.
The modern history of the sea port in Ust-Luga began with the adoption of the order of the Russian Government on April 28, 1993. The project became one of the first examples of successful PPP projects in Russia. Today Ust-Luga is the largest and deepest port in the Baltic Sea, including the Baltic countries and Finland.
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin at a meeting dedicated to the expansion of the port, has stressed that Ust-Luga is "one of the largest infrastructure projects of European scale in Russia".
Currently, the Port of Ust-Luga has 12 terminals that provide handling and storage of more than 20 types of liquid bulk, dry bulk, general and containerized cargo.
Works under the project will be executed in three phases. The first phase includes the formation of the water basin of the berths of the Multifunctional Transshipment Complex "Yug-2" and the timber cargo handling facility; Phase 2 includes the formation of the water basin in the area of shore protection of the Southern part of the service/support fleet base; and Phase 3 includes creation of the water basin of the remaining areas of the fleet base.
Formation of the water area of the Southern region, including the operational basin of the container terminal, is one of the stages of the program for the integrated development of the seaport.
The project of water basins formation includes dredging of a turning basin and access channel to ensure safe maneuvering and docking of ships at the berths of reloading complexes and the support fleet base in the southern part of the port.
Cargo ships and the port service vessels will be able to operate within the water basin of the Southern region round-the-clock and year-round.
Dredging will not interrupt the port operations. In order to avoid vessel downtime, the schedule of works will be coordinated with the operational services.
The project will be financed though Rosmorport own funds.