The sites for the construction of new cities in Siberia should be correlated with the resource capabilities of the region and the programs for the development of transport networks.
This was announced by the Minister of Defense and head of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) Sergey Shoigu in response to questions from RBC about the prospects for the development of agglomerations in Siberia. Earlier, at a meeting with scientists of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Shoigu announced the need to build three to five scientific and industrial centers in Siberia with a population of 300 thousand to 1 million people.
"We are talking not just about the construction of new settlements in the taiga, but specifically about the development of Siberian macro-regions and the whole country," he said in response to a request from RBC.
According to Shoigu, scientific, industrial and economic centers will have to become " new poles of attraction for both the population of the whole of Russia and our numerous compatriots in the CIS countries and far abroad."
An industrial center "Copper and Electrical Engineering"can be created between Bratsk and Krasnoyarsk.
"There are all the opportunities not only for mining, but also for deep processing of copper and various rare earth metals for the subsequent production of domestic products with high added value," Sergei Shoigu noted.
In the same area, a cluster can be created that is fully focused on the production of high — grade aluminum processing products - "Aluminum Valley".
In Southern Siberia, there are opportunities to create large-scale and highly profitable production with a higher conversion of coking coal. There is a potential for creating a coal-chemical production of popular plastics from illiquid raw materials in the Kansk region.
There is sufficient potential around Lesosibirsk to create a cluster of "Forest and building materials" with a high share of upper-processing products and an attractive economy.
"And this is just the tip of the iceberg," Shoigu concludes, adding that there is "no need to be afraid"of the appearance of new cities in sync with the creation of new scientific and industrial centers in Siberia.
