‘There are piles of trees lying there’: mass deforestation in Laishevo District

According to Zakupki procurement website, tenders for contractors were placed on 27 and 31 October 2023 to build and transform some sections of R-239 road from Kazan to the border of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The works will start this year.

Realnoe Vremya’s reader said that trees were being cut down along the road at the moment.

“There are piles of trees lying there! This is seen from Turgay settlement, from Sokury settlement to the turn to the airport, Kabany settlement. It is level to the ground and is being cleaned, it is unnoticeable immediately,” he wrote.

The Tatarstan Ministry of Agriculture said that this section was not part of the forest reserves.

“According to Laishevo Forestry, roadside forest areas were cut down to expand the road,” the ministry commented.

Volgo-Vyatskoupravdor is the customer of transformation. 431.8 million rubles will be spent on working documentation (stage one), 19.3 billion rubles will be — on the construction and transformation (stage two). The expansion works will be held from 2024 to 2027. At the first stage, bushes and trees will be cut down, the main oil pipeline will be relaid at the second stage, the main gas pipeline will be relaid at the third stage, the road will be transformed at the fourth stage, preparatory works checking electricity lines, oil and gas pipelines and other elements will be the fifth stage. Most trees and bushes will be planed in 2027 — 7.3 million rubles will be spent on this.

Preparatory, earth and welding works, foundation laying, erection of building envelopes, launch works, installation of electricity networks and cables, road building are planned as part of the construction as well.