I. Metshin: “We will get not just some pool but restore true lakes”

(KZN.RU, June 10, Mikhail Chentsov, Zilya Gayfi). Unprecedented work on the improvement of recreation areas, including city embankments, is being conducted in Kazan in the Year of Ecology and Public Spaces. One of the largest projects of recent years is the eco-rehabilitation of the Lebyazhie lakes system. “There was no example of restoring such a water area in Russia. We will get true, living lakes and not just some puddles, so that water does not leak away from it”, Ilsur Metshin, the head of the capital of the RT, outlined the scale of the project at the staff meeting in the Kazan Executive Committee.

This year full-scale works on the revival of the Lebyazhie lakes system began in Kazan.

“To date, measures have been taken to sanitize the territory of lakes from wild growing, the construction of a dam between Maloe and Bolshoe Lebyazhie has been dano. After the completion of all work in the lake along the water pipeline, the water from Izumrudnoe Lake will be launched. 2-3 months will be required to fill the lakes”, said Igor Kulyazhev, the deputy head of the Executive Committee and the chairman of the Committee for External Improvement. The second stage is planned to be the development of the coastal zone.

Ilsur Metshin noted that such an important project for the whole ecosystem is implemented on the initiative of the President of Tatarstan with the support of the company “TAIF” by the budget of the republic and the city. “We should not just get some pool, we have to get true, living lakes and restore them. And this is being done in accordance with the most stringent environmental standards, using environmental materials”, said the Mayor and marked that it is important to work in close cooperation with environmentalists, biologists, and geologists and take into account every wish of the environmental council.

“We are very much looking forward to the implementation of this project together with the citizens. We will begin filling the lakes in late autumn. And next year, citizens and guests of the capital will be able to see this gift to our city and its ecology”, said the Mayor.

The improvement of the embankment of the Nizhny Kaban Lake also began this year by the project of the Russian-Chinese consortium “Turenscape”.

According to Ilsur Metshin, the city got on the improvement of one of the most complex facilities. “The Kaban lakes system is not an easy object but no less important for the city. Everything goes not as fast as we would like. There are a lot of issues on the engineering infrastructure, which we solve. There is huge number of releases from factories, storm sewers but these issues have found a technical solution. So now it's up to a good organization of work on time”, said the Mayor and noted that it will be possible to see the first results soon.

By the decision of Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, the 2017 was declared the Year of Ecology and Public Spaces following upon the Year of Parks and Squares and the Year of Water Protection Zones, which were in 2015 and 2016.