Ilsur Metshin on the concept of river service development: “No doubt we will implement the project soon, and it will be a new Kazan”

Kazan presented a concept for the development of river service for the upcoming 15 years, which will allow the city to become the Volga region center of water tourism. Over the years, it is planned to gradually create 17 large water infrastructure facilities – Russia's largest network of eleven marinas, a yacht club and six parking lots for small shios. It is planned to improve 12.2 kilometers of coastline and create 1,450 modern mooring sites.

Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin announced the readiness to implement a long-term project to improve the coastal zones of the Volga and Kazanka with the creation of appropriate infrastructure for river vessels at the Kazanysh International Architectural and Construction Forum today.

The issue of renovation of industrial areas, including those at the main waterways of the city, was raised 10 years ago. Thanks to the active position of the chief architect of the city, Ilsiyar Tukhvatullina, the process and discussions have moved to an active activity. In September 2022, Rustam Minnikhanov and Ilsur Metshin began the renovation of the territory near Portovaya street, having launched the construction of the first residential area.

“Kazan is blessed with the Lake Kaban, the Kazanka and Volga rivers, but only recently we found the strength and began to improve these territories. Unfortunantely, the situation with Kazanka is challenging. Hundreds of unauthorized accesses and drains. But any way begins with the first step, we have taken it. This is always associated with large resources, primarily financial and labor, as well as time factor,”- said Ilsur Metshin, Mayor of Kazan.

The concept of river service development in Kazan was presented by chief architect Ilsiyar Tukhvatullina. She stressed that today logistics has been developed for small ships along the Volga, and there is only one pier for them on Kazanka within the city limits.

One of the main elements of the updated river infrastructure, according to the chief architect of Kazan, will be urban marinas – parking lots for small ships at six locations. “The marinas will be located at the Richmond residential complex, AK Bars Arena, the National Library of Tatarstan, the Kazan Family Center, on Portovaya Street – south of the river port, as well as at the Riviera,”- said the chief architect of the city.

To create parking lots for small ships, it is necessary to organize an access to the coastline, bring power and water supply networks, equip pontoons for mooring, as well as carry out work on deepening the bottom.

As part of the concept, it is planned to create a network of parking lots with a per-minute mooring fee. They will be located at the Manzara Park, the Riviera, the URAM extreme Park, the Kremlin Dam and two parking lots at the Kremlin Embankment.

The concept of water infrastructure development in Kazan also includes a project to create the main city yacht club “Locomotive”. A marina with 450 mooring places is planned on the coastal territory of the Volga. It is planned to improve 2.3 kilometers of the embankment territory and build a building with public functions with an area of 2.5 thousand square meters.