The Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia has developed a proposal to include measures to improve transport accessibility of special protected natural areas (SPNA) of federal significance in the national project “Safe and high-quality roads”. According to the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Elena Panova, the proposal of the Ministry of Natural Resources provides for financing activities for the construction, repair and reconstruction of the roads leading to national parks. Currently, the initiative is being reviewed by the Government of the Russian Federation.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, the working group held meeting at the ministry where it discussed the issues of improving transport accessibility of protected areas.
The hot topic was the predicted increase in demand for domestic tourism in the summer holiday season 2020.
In particular, Panova, instructed to pay special attention to the joint operational study of the issue of organizing a railway station near the national park "Pleshcheevo Lake" (Yaroslavl region).
According to Panova, taking into account the fact that “this year the tourist flow will be gradually reoriented to domestic tourism”, it is necessary to find solutions to improve the transport accessibility of protected areas, “so that people can comfortably spend holidays within the country.”
The event was held with the participation of employees of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, the Federal Road Agency, heads of institutions of the reserve system subordinate to the ministry and representatives of regional authorities.
The Ministry of Natural Resources reminded that joint work on resolving issues related to improving the transport accessibility of protected areas has been carried out by the ministry with the executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and relevant departments since the end of 2019. A number of common problems in this area and even ways to solve them have been identified. In addition, the highest executive bodies of the Republics of Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Irkutsk, Kaluga, Chelyabinsk and Yaroslavl regions were recommended to conduct a survey in the regions.
