The remote Russian town of Pevek, located on the East Siberian Sea, is undergoing a transformation. After decades of decline, local authorities are now preparing the ground for a growing population, new jobs and big investments. In the late 1980s, more than 12,000 people lived in Pevek. Then, like so many other towns in the Russian Arctic, population started to shrink dramatically. By 2011, fewer than 4,200 people were left. That demographic downturn is now coming to a halt. According to local authorities, there is now a need for 320 new apartments in town. In addition, a major facelift of local infrastructure is in the making. Two architecture companies in 2016 came to town and started working on sketches for a new and upgraded port zone, a new church, as well as bicycle paths, squares, parks and playing areas for children. The driver of the local developments is state company Rosatom, that for more than ten years has worked with the development of the Akademik Lomonosov, the world’s first floating nuclear power plant. The plant will be towed from Murmansk across the Northern Sea Route to Pevek, located not far from the Bering Strait, in early summer 2019.
Arctic Today 30th Nov 2018 read more »