KRASNOYARSK/MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th March, 2019) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has tasked the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment with verifying whether a new plant that will export water to China, currently under construction on Russia's Lake Baikal, complies with the highest environmental standards, Medvedev's press secretary Oleg Osipov said on Tuesday.
Construction for the plant, which will deliver drinking water from Lake Baikal in Russia's Siberia to China, started in January. The first portion of the plant will reportedly be built and be in operation by December. Plans to create this plant have raised concerns among local residents, who worry it might damage the environment.
"Medvedev held a phone conversation with the head of the Ministry of Nature, [Dmitry] Kobylkin. He ordered to check the plan for the construction of a plant on Lake Baikal for water export to China against the most [advanced] environmental standards," Osipov told reporters.
Earlier in the day, Medvedev pledged to make such an instruction, at a meeting with coaches and members of the Russian team at the 29th Winter Universiade 2019 in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
The prime minister stressed the need to do everything possible so that Baikal was the cleanest lake on Earth. Medvedev added that Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake by volume, was a very special place for every Russian citizen.
"Some time ago, I personally had to make a decision to close the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill. I believe it was a difficult decision, but a very important one. This exact decision has enabled the improvement of the general situation around Baikal," the prime minister said.
Medvedev added that this was a difficult decision to make, since the closure of the plant back in 2013 incurred job losses for many people.
"But we made it, and the mill was closed. So why do I recall this now? We cannot afford creating such a situation now that could damage the environmental situation around Lake Baikal," Medvedev said.
The Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill was closed after having operated for over 40 years. The threat that it was doing to the region's environment by polluting it has long been causing public outrage.
