The Russian federal government has allocated full funding to complete the long-delayed Krasnogorsky water-management project on the transboundary Irtysh River near Omsk, Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov said.
The complex is designed to stabilize drinking water supplies for the Siberian city of one million residents and revive commercial river navigation. Russian officials stated that water levels must be artificially regulated to maintain municipal intakes. According to regional governor Vitaly Khotsenko, the river provides roughly 90 percent of the Omsk region’s water supply.
Work on the facility initially started in 2011, with completion scheduled for 2016 to mark the city’s 300th anniversary. Construction halted after the original contractor went bankrupt, leaving concrete installations abandoned for several years.
Building operations resumed in 2022 under contractor Mezhregionstroy. Subsequent engineering surveys found that several neglected structures had degraded, requiring demolition and reconstruction. Authorities have now set a revised operational target of 2030.
The development also carries cross-border dimensions. Moscow and Astana are drafting a joint master plan for managing the Irtysh basin, with officials projecting that the completed project will help facilitate transit river transport linking Russia, Kazakhstan, and China.
