Alexander Burkov, the governor of the Omsk region, is going to spend billions of public funds on another project that is impossible to implement. He proposes to transport goods from the Omsk region to Kazakhstan and further to China along the Irtysh River.
I will explain why the idea is corrupt and hopeless.
The Omsk-Pavlodar river route has existed for centuries; now crushed stone is transported along this route to the Omsk region. Grain could be sent as return cargo, as planned within the framework of the “Grain of Siberia”, which has now been killed by criminal cases. For now, mostly timber is being removed.
Shipping in Kazakhstan ends near the Ust-Kamenogorsk hydroelectric power station. Then there is only one way – by road through the Zimunai crossing, after which the goods can be sent to China.
The Black Irtysh, which the governor is talking about, leads to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. It is one of the poorest and largest administrative divisions in China. To really get to that China where there are people, demand and money, for example to Sichuan, you still need to travel another 4,000 km from Ust-Kamenogorsk, mainly through the Gobi Desert.
It turns out that Governor Burkov was planning to transport Omsk goods through the Gobi Desert?
Surprising, of course, but on conversations, projects and hopes it is quite possible to “cut” the budget funds allocated by the federal center for promising and investment projects.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”