Fast stop of "Khimprom" in Volgograd can lead to disaster, ecologists are warning

A hasty closure of the "Khimprom" Factory threatens with environmental problems to Volgograd, including a complete loss of control over the equipment and full pipelines for pumping chemically polluted wastewater. This was stated in the memorandum of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia.

In his turn, Nikolai Kostenko, Assistant of the Prosecutor of the Volgograd Inter-District Environmental Prosecutor's Office, said that they prepare a series of acts of response intended to prevent an environmental disaster, including a possible appeal to the court.

In November 2012, the "Khimprom" Factory, a part of the State Corporation "Rostekh", was declared bankrupt. The factory workers addressed the President of the Russian Federation asking to prevent mass lay-offs, but the "Rostekh" made a final decision to close the "Khimprom".

The equipment of the "Khimprom" is old; the structures are obsolete, in need of a costly recovery programme, Elena Vasilieva, the director of the regional public organization "Volgograd-Express", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Let us remind you that about 4500 workers of the "Khimprom" will receive compensations worth in total 437 million roubles from the authorities of the Volgograd Region, as Andrei Bocharov, the Governor, had promised. Also, the regional government informed that they plan to launch new production facilities at the "Khimprom"; but first it is necessary to close old unprofitable production lines and remove all the environmental threats existing in the territory of the factory.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.